Our thing
by xNicole
Summary: Dylan O'Brien's best friend, Nicole, visits his apartment every saturday. If only there was a way she'd stay longer...
1. Chapter one

Again she was sitting at the corner of the cafeteria. She was reading and sometimes she took a bite of her apple that her mother gave her every morning to school.

As usual there were no other people sitting at her table and she liked it that way because now she could just read in silence.

Well, there were lot of people in the cafeteria. Talking, laughing, eating… it didn't really matter what they did as long as they were sitting with their friends and had a break from doing their schoolwork or didn't have to listen to their teachers.

Of course Nicole felt the same and liked having a break from her classes, but she liked to learn. She liked to learn a lot about the things she found interesting. Though, she found a lot of things interesting. She just couldn't help but concentrate on how her teacher told the class things about history; what people drank, what they ate or where they slept. Or how another teacher told the class about different sorts of plants, flowers, animals or about the things that were based of biology.

She had a lot of ideas what she wanted to do for living in the future but she knew her parents already had something else in mind.

Her grandfather was the manager of bank, her mother worked there as a secretary and her father had a job something near what her grandfather was doing, therefore they wanted their daughter to also work there. She loved her parents with all her heart and all she wanted to do was to make them proud but she also had her own ideas.

* * *

A few meters away from her a boy was staring at her with his brown eyes. He was sitting with his friends, who talked about stuff he guessed were something in the way of cute girls and where to find them. Dylan didn't really care, all he could think about how the hell he was going to walk up to this beautiful blonde-haired girl and talk to her.

In some way he was curious how the girl could read so silently between breaks without seeming to have the urge to talk to someone. Because really, there were some days he couldn't stop talking. It didn't matter if he was talking to someone in person or chatting with someone online, he just couldn't stop talking. Maybe he was socially awkward and a little bit shy but that didn't mean he didn't like to talk.

The boy sighed.

Maybe the girl didn't even want to talk to him anf so if he was actually sitting down at her table and began to talk to her maybe she'd give look up at him and give him a glare or maybe he'd mae her feel uncomfortable and no, Dylan didn't want that.

Why would she want to talk to him it fit seemed like she was actually enjoying herself perfectly alone, reading her book?

He was just a guy who liked to joke around, had a few good friends and a normal family. So it asnt like he was spiecial or anything and everyone was feeling for him in line to get a chance to talk to him for a few minutes. `

No, it was the complete oppisite. Someone people found him annoying or didn't even know him-… Well, maybe he had a YouTube channel and he had more then thousand subscribers who actually liked the videos he posted, but that didn't mean people at school liked him… right?

"Just go talk to her, man" Max told him while he rolled his eyes, "and if you don't do it right now, I'll go talk to her…" He took a glance at the girl with a smirk, "she's freaking gorgeous."

All Dylan could do was to agree with his friend. She was freaking gorgous, no doubt, and if he didn't take the chance to talk to her right now, he knew he was going to regret it.

So, the brunette stood up and walked up to the girl without actually thinking what he was going to say. He realised it when he sat down on the chair in front of her and looked up from the book.

She smiled, but was blushing uncomfortably, "hi."

"Hey, ehm-…" He cursed himself. What in hell was he going to say? He should probably introduce himself. Yeah, that was pretty normal. _Alright, let's do this._

"Hi, I'm Dylan" he tried introducing himself convidently, but he failed. When she saw her staring at him with her light-blue eyes, he felt his cheeks burning bright pink. _Oh my god, really, dude?_

Dylan wanted to look away from her, but just before he did he heard a giggle come from her mouth while she stick her hand out to shake his, "my name is Nicole. It's a pleasure to meet you, Dylan."

After he heard her angelic voice singing through his ears, he found himself sitting there dumbfounded. She sounded like she was from a rich family and as if she actually learned how to introduce herself to new people. To important people. Not people from her own age, _people like him._

But it didn't matter, because before he knew it they were talking about nothingness as if they new other for years, _as if they were friends. _

* * *

A few weeks later Nicole came home from the ice cream bar, where she ate ice cream with Dylan. He wanted to celebrate the many viewers on the YouTube video they made together for his channel. It made her feel like she actually could be herself around him and she didn't have to walk or sit straight - which her mother thought was healthier than to hang around like a 'typical teenager' - when she was with him. She could name up a lot of things why she liked the brunette but when she saw her mother standing in the livingroom with a laptop on the table next to her and her hands on her hips, she didn't feel so happy anymore.

"Hey mother, how was your day?" Nicole gave her a smile while playing nervously with her hair. She knew her mother wasn't standing there for nothing, she knew she'd done something wrong and she'd probably hear the whole thing in less than a minute.

Her mother pointed at the laptop, looking at her with a serious expression on her face, "do you know how many viewers there are on the video you made with that boy?"

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Nicole fought herself not to look down at her feet because she knew her she didn't like it when she didn't look at the person's eyes when she was talking with someone, "yes, mother, I know."

"Then how come you haven't thought about how your father would react on this, Nicole?" she sat down on the couch, patting on the space next to her as if she wanted her daughter to sit there, "he doesn't like you hanging around with boys."

Sighing, the girl sat down and nodded, "yes, I know father doesn't want me to hang around with boys but Dylan is really sweet, caring and funny. He doesn't want to hurt me, he's not like that."

Her mother heard what she just said but chose to ignore it, "I want you to delete the video from the internet right away."

"Yes, mother." With that, she stood up from the couch again and took her phone out of her jeans-pocket and walked towards the stairs.

When she was in her room, she dailed Dylan's number and pushed the 'call' button. She waited and waited until he picked up the phone, "Hey, you. What's up?"

"My mother found out about the video," she started, "and she wants me to delete the video because my father doesn't like me hanging around with boys."

"Oh well, that's beautiful" he mumbled sarcastically feeling a little bit upset about it. He sounded like he took a pause before he asked her something, "if I delete the video, is there a chance we could continue to hang out or…?"

Sighing again, she began to walk through her room, "I don't know. She didn't really tell me to stop hanging out with you-…"

"Hold on," Dylan sat down on his bed and ran a hand over his buzz-cut, "did you know your dad doesn't like you hanging out with boys?"

"Dylan, that's not the point," she wanted to raise her voice because she didn't know why in the name of God her friend asked her that silly question, "you're one of my first friends in 16 years and I don't want to stop hanging out with you if I don't know for sure my mother wants me to. So, you delete the video from the internet and we continue to hang out until she tells me to me stop."

"Alright, I'll delete it" he said, rolling her eyes at her parents, "only if you promise me we're hanging out again after shool tomorrow ."

Smiling, the girl nodded to herself, "I promise."

* * *

They continued to hang out even when the girl doubted her mother like them hanging out. Her mother would sometimes look at her with a the same serious expression on her face from the day she told her to delete the video at the moment her father came home from work every day. Nicole was afraid she was disappointed in her and she didn't like it at all.

Dylan, who was a year older than her, was trying to do a lot of studying for the SAT while she sat on his bed with her math book in her hands. He was a kind of uptight about his bed but he could make an exception for a girl like her. Beautiful, sweet, funny, caring… and if she wanted to, she also be a little firecracker, but he liked that. No, he loved it. Yeah, he pretty much loved her.

Although he knew she probably already friend zoned him, it didn't matter. Her parents didn't want her hanging out with boys anyway, so there was no way she was going on dates with guys. He knew better than that she wanted to make her parents proud, so… having her hanging out with him as a friend made him feel special. Sounded cheesy, but… the thought made him happy.

"Are you even trying to study?" Nicole interrupted his thoughts, which made him look up at her with a confused look. "What? Ehm, yeah-… I mean, yeah, I'm actually really doing my best on this interesting chapter about the history-…"

"Don't be so sarcastic."

Smirking, he turned around in his chair so he didn't have to turn his head anymore to look at her light-blue eyes, "A few days ago you told me you liked my sarcastic ways of talking ."

Her jaw dropped open but smiled anyway, "Are you seriously trying to start an argument with me?"

"Oh my-…" he grinned and shook his head sarcastically, "no, not at all. I wouldn't even dare."

As if she knew better than talking back, she tried to concentrate on her math homework again with still a smile on her face. She liked Dylan's sarcastic ways of talking but she didn't want him to tease her about it. And he did a lot of teasing.

"I'll just study" Dylan turned back to his studying after he saw her nodding her head in approval. There was no doubt she wanted him to have nice scores on the SAT, so all she wanted him to do is to relax and try to concentrate on his studying. But he had a hard time doing it with her in the same room, so… he took his phone out of his pocket to check his email.

Nicole was at that moment having a hard time doing her math. She didn't like math; there were just too many numbers. Math wasn't her favorite subject at all.

"Oh my god," Dylan stood up from his chair with a big smile on his face and looked at her with wide eyes, "I got the part. Oh my freaking god!"

"What?" she looked up at him extremely confused, though she smiled because he looked really happy and she liked seeing him happy, "what part? What do you mean?"

Dylan explained her how he had auditioned for a part in a movie called _'High Road'_ with help from someone his parents knew and he got sent an email he got the part. He was so overwhelmed, therefore she couldn't really understand some of the things but she knew enough to be proud of her friend starring into a movie. She just hoped it didn't change their friendship.


	2. Chapter two

A few years later everything seemed to be as normal as it could be for their friendship, though Dylan was co-starring into a MTV series called 'Teen Wolf' and moved to Los Angeles for his acting career when Nicole was in her graduation year of high school. She missed him but it was a little bit more than 30 minutes driving so all she had to do was ask their personal driver to drive her there. Her father didn't really trust letting her take a cap, so they hired one. It was pretty cool in some way.

Her mother didn't lie about where she was going to her father and she didn't really mind anymore what he thought about Dylan and her hanging out. They had to be glad she actually went to college to become a secretary just like her mother. She had too many dreams anyway and so when she couldn't choose, she thought it was better to just do what they really wanted.

Her parents also introduced Nicole to a sweet and handsome guy named Joey Hamilton who worked at the bank. His parents were rich and it seemed as if he was perfect for her, so… they started going on dates. First they went to have dinner at a fancy restaurant, the next week they had a picknick in the park where she once went to go for a walk with Dylan and his dog, and the third week she was asked to be his girlfriend.

Joey found her nice from in and out and he showed how much he loved her with presents. He gave her a diamond necklace, which she was wearing around her neck every day and once a week he came at her house with red roses.

It was nice how he treated her and he was amazingly sweet guy, but it just didn't work for her. It wasn't what she wanted-… Well, she didn't actually know what she wanted. All she knew was she wasn't really in love with him.

Dylan knew about her relationship with Joey; he still couldn't believe she was dating him because her parents approved of him. He found Joey some sort of slimy asshole who wanted her for the money and maybe if he had a chance to get into her pants - or maybe skirt - it'd be a bonus Dylan thought Joey didn't deserve.

Today it was finally weekend, which meant they both had a day off and Nicole'd would come over at his apartment to hang out. Unfortunately, this morning she had to text him she'd come a little later because of 'stuff'. It wasn't like he didn't know what she meant by 'stuff' but he found it funny how she called spending time with her _amazing _boyfriend 'stuff'.

So, late in the afternoon around 5 PM, Nicole walked in with an annoyed look on her face. She tossed her jacket on the couch, kicked off her high heels and walked into the kitchen where Dylan was cooking dinner for both of them.

"He got you red roses again?"

"Yes," she opened the refrigerator and sighed, grabbing a bottle of water, "and you know what my mother asked me when my father and he having a talk in his office?"

Looking up at her, he noticed her removing the bun out of her blonde hair which made it fall down over her shoulders to her mid-back. "She literally asked 'how many days do you think it'll last Joey asks your father for approval to marry you?'"

Dylan's mouth dropped open in a funny way and he shook his head, having a hard time hearing it come out of her mouth. He already saw her in a white dress, walking down the aisle with a smile on her face, looking at the slimy asshole. It wasn't like he could do anything about it; it was her own choice to marry him just like it her was her choice of accepting the job offer from her grandfather, which would start in a year after she graduated college.

"Does that mean something, Dylan?" she opened the bottle of water before she taking a sip, "It's not like he'll ask me to marry him, right?"

He literally hated those question, where he wanted to answer her naïve questions truthfully but he also wanted to make her feel better, which usually meant he had to lie. And he knew lying to her didn't work out most of the time - especially right now - because she'd come after the truth fast enough and she'd let him know she wasn't okay with it. And it made him feel guilty anyway, so… he chose to tell her the truth.

"Eventually he'll ask you to marry him," after he took two plates out of the kitchen cabinet and some forks and knifes out of one of the drawers, he looked up at her again, "but I hope he doesn't just yet, because come on, you're only freaking 20 years old."

Nodding quietly, again she hoped for another nice answer, "and what if he proposes, what am I going to do; am I going to say yes or no?"

"What are you asking me exactly?" grinning, Dylan put some of the macaroni on the plates, "because sunshine, if you're asking me what I'd do if I was in your shoes I'd say no. You don't to marry some guy only because your parents approve of him; you want to marry a sweet, funny guy who cares about you and actually shows you he loves you for real and not just gives you freaking red roses every time you two spent time together." He paused, "and by the way, you don't even like him."

They both sat down at the table with their plates in front of them, and they began to eat.

Giggling, Nicole looked up him, "does it really show that bad?"

Her friend rolled his brown eyes, taking a bite of his food while he nodded, "I don't know how you act at home, but when you're here it definitely shows."

The only thing she thought of to say back was something sarcastic. It was unusual for her to do at home, so she felt a little uncomfortable with it. "Well, that's beautiful."

He gave her a wink as if he wanted to say 'it's alright' which made her heart skip a beat because of… well, _reasons_ and they both went back to eating their dinner.

* * *

When Dylan went to take a shower because she wanted him to, Nicole continued watching TV while laying on the couch. It wasn't like anything was on, but it didn't really matter to her. She just liked to watch, because at home she didn't do it very often. And here she was able to lay on the couch instead of sitting up straight with her feet - where she almost couldn't touch the floor with - down.

Whenever she was with Dylan she felt relaxed, she could be herself; it felt like it didn't matter what she was doing as long as she was happy.

Sighing, Nicole turned to lay on her back, thinking about when she had to leave to go home again. She didn't want to leave, that was the last thing she wanted but she knew she had to anyway. Tomorrow it was Sunday, which meant they were having a family-day or however they wanted to name it. Joey would be coming with his family and then she'd be meeting them for the second time.

The first time they met was when they just started dating; he really wanted her to meet them. It made their relationship sound pretty serious and she didn't like that at all.

Seeing Dylan walk out of his room, made her sit up from the couch and smile brightly, "hey, you had a nice shower?"

He yawned, sitting down to her and nodded, "yeah, I guess so."

"Aww, are you tired?" she giggled at him, making him roll his eyes jokingly, looking up at her. "And what if I am, what are you gonna do about it?"

"Well," thoughtfully she looked at his big hands thought as if that was going help her think of an idea to tell him, "whatever you want me to do."

Dylan kissed her forehead - something Joey never had done - and grinned, "you just make sure you get home safe, alright?"

Sighing, she nodded and caressed his cheek for a moment, looking at him into his brown eyes. And before she could get too comfortable, she stood up from the couch, "I'll see you next weekend."

"Next weekend it is" he mumbled, standing up to help her put on her jacket and high heels. Then he watched her wave at him, walking towards the front door she opened, "good night, Dylan."

"Sweet dreams" he gave her a smile, feeling almost literally his heart tear apart for the hundredth time. He didn't want her to leave again, _he wanted her to stay. _


	3. Chapter three

On a Friday night Joey took Nicole on a date to a fancy restaurant. She was wearing a black dress with her hair down into a braid, while he was wearing a black tuxedo.

She felt him staring at her the whole time and she didn't like it at all. It made her feel uncomfortable and therefore she didn't know what to say to him.

"You look really beautiful tonight" he told her with a smile on his face, after he took her hand and caressed it gently with his thumb.

She found herself forcing a smile and nodding, "thank you, Joey."

Continuing her dinner, she played with her dress under the table and sighed.

Tomorrow she'd be seeing Dylan again. She had been thinking of trying to avoid her as a subject to talk about and focus on him. Nicole cared a lot about him and she wanted to know whether he was feeling alright and how everything was going with his work. Now she was feeling all he wanted to talk about was her, as if she more important than him-…

"What are you thinking about? The man asked his girlfriend, wanting to know why she was so quiet all of the sudden. Normally she was a lot more talk able.

The girl looked up from her plate, shaking her head with a fake smile, "I was just trying to think of a subject to talk about."

Laughing, he took a bite from his foot, "how about we talk about you; how's college?"

* * *

Dylan could still feel the loud music from last night bumping through his ears the next morning when he woke up. Going to bed at 3 AM made everything worse.

What was the reason he went to his friend's party again? Oh, yeah, because he wanted to stop thinking about Nicole. She'd come over today and he was too inpatient to wait for another night.

Saturday was his favorite day of the week because that day she would be coming over. She didn't have much time but seeing her for just a few hours made everything seem alright again; made everything seem as if she didn't have a slimy asshole boyfriend.

Sighing, he tried going back to sleep again but then he heard someone closing the front door. It was her.

"I'm home!" he heard her saying before hearing of her kicking off her heels and taking off her jacket that she'd threw on the couch every Saturday she'd come over.

Dylan smiled automatically.

She just called his apartment home and she didn't even live here-… well, she was here basically every week and she had the key. So, yeah…

Before he knew he felt a body sitting down on the side of his bed and a hand caressing his cheek.

Grinning widely, he opened his eyes to look up at her with sleepy eyes, "hey, you."

"Good morning" she kissed his cheek softy with a smile on her face. The smile he loved about her; as if it made him fall in love with her all over again. "Had a nice sleep?"

"Well," he turned to lay on his back and shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I went to a party last and went to bed around 3 AM."

"You silly," she stood up again, starting to walk away from him, "what do you want for breakfast?"

"Come back" he laughed, "you don't have to make me breakfast." Of course he wanted her to make him breakfast, the food she made was the most delicious food he ever tasted. Whenever she was here and he haven't had breakfast yet, she made him breakfast. She didn't mind pampering him.

"How about pancakes or toast with bacon and eggs?" still smiling brightly, Nicole looked at him, waiting for an answer, "or maybe a sandwich?"

Thoughtfully he shook his head, looking back at her, "you choose. Any food you make is delicious."

With that, she walked out of his room to the kitchen, where she started making him breakfast. She wanted to make him something special, which meant she was going to make him a sandwich with grilled cheese. It was simple to make but she knew he loved her grilled cheese.

After she was done, she began walking towards his room with a glass of orange juice and a plate in her hands. He noticed him sitting up straight, watching her walk into his room with a smile on his face.

"Bon appetite!" she giggled, handing him the plate and glass while sitting down on the other side of the bed. A huge smirk appeared on his face before taking a bite of his sandwich, "Why can't you just make me breakfast every day? I mean, that's really waking up, you know!"

Laughing silently at his comment, she shook her head, having no control of remember what happened last night.

Dylan noticed her worried expression on her face immediately while he swallowed his food.

He didn't really know if she wanted to talk about it; maybe she was just on her period. Hold on, no… maybe she was late, which meant she could be pregnant. Wait, she had sex with Joey? Oh my freaking-… no, he didn't want her having sex with an asshole like him. God, no.

"So tell me, how's everything at work?" Nicole managed herself to ask him, looking at him with her light-blue eyes, "You never tell me about it and I'm curious."

Trying to ignore his thoughts, he started talking about his work. He'd start filming a movie called 'The first time' in less than a month, which meant he wanted to grow out his hair a little bit and they would stop filming Teen Wolf in a few weeks. They'd start filming again after summer.

Sighing because she also wanted to have a job she loved, she nodded silently, "and how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, yeah." _Besides he was feeling upset because she wasn't his and had to wait a week after having her leave his apartment every Saturday night 'til she came back again._ "I don't see why not."

She knew him better than believing what he just told her, but Nicole didn't want to force him to talk about something he didn't want to talk about, so… she let it slip through her fingers for once.

"Good" she took his hand in her much smaller hand and squeezed it a little, looking at him with her sweetest smile.

It made Dylan nod, asking her same question, "and how are you doing? And don't tell me you're doing fine, I know you're not feeling fine."

"Would you just please eat your breakfast?" she ignored his question, shaking her head and pointed at his half-eaten sandwich, "It's the most important meal of the day."

Dylan continued eating his sandwich again, but couldn't let her ignore his question like that. He wanted to know why she had this worried expression on her face just then.

"So, are you gonna tell me what's bothering you or what?"

Uncomfortably and nervously, Nicole began to play with her fingers while she looked at them, "Joey and I went on a date yesterday-night and after he brought me home, he walked me to the front door and he kind of…" She sighed dramatically, afraid of his reaction, "told me he loved me."

The brunette didn't know what to say, running his hand over his short hair, "and what did you say it back? What did you say?"

"How can I say something like that back when I don't even like him and let alone love him?" she threw her hands in the air, "I just kissed his cheek and told him he was a sweetheart."

Starting to laugh what she just said, he shook his head unbelievably, "You told him he was a sweetheart? You're a genius!"

"Well, do you know how hard it is to have a boyfriend you don't even like?" she defended herself, laughing with him, "It's not easy."

"But you can get so much better than that asshole," he said, not caring if she didn't like him calling her _boyfriend_ an asshole, "if you'd like you even get Harry Styles from One Direction."

"You know I don't like Harry Styles" giggling, she laid her head on his shoulder, hearing him snigger. "But he's famous and rich and I'm sure your parents would approve of him; he's like the next Mick Jagger, what's there not to approve?"

Rolling her eyes, she looked up at him again, "You're famous, I guess you're also rich and-…" a thoughtful expression grew on her face, "how come I never asked my parents if they approved of you?"

"Approve of me as being your boyfriend?" Dylan said grinning, ignoring the weird feeling in his stomach, and shrugged his shoulders, "You could give it a try."

She wanted to explain why she was thinking something like that, but she shook her head, not talking about her again, "let's forget about it." She giggled, "so, you've got a man crush on Harry Styles, I see?"

"How can you not like Harry Styles!?" They started to laugh, but they both couldn't forget about the conversation they just had.


	4. Chapter four

As usual Dylan couldn't stop thinking about Nicole, having a hard time getting his food down his throat before he had to shoot a scene with Tyler. He was literally counting the days until she'd come visit him again and it made him even more impatient. It was Tuesday, which meant he had to wait 3 more days.

"What's on your mind, dude?" his best friend elbowed him in the stomach, looking at him with a questioned look, "you've been playing with your food for almost 5 minutes now."

Holland looked up from her magazine she was reading, glad finally someone was asking their co-star what he was thinking about. She had glanced at him a few times, noticing his weird behavior.

"It's her again, isn't it?" the strawberry-blonde asked, before he could shake his head, saying there was nothing on his mind.

Sighing as he laid down his fork on his plate, he shrugged his shoulders. He couldn't just lie to them by answering a simple no because he knew they knew him better than that. "Sometimes I'm just tired of waiting for her to come visit me again. It's her that makes my life worth living-…" He stopped himself, raising an eyebrow at his words, "yup, that sounded freaking dramatic."

Starting to snigger, Tyler shook his head, "why don't you just tell her how you feel?"

The brunette rolled his eyes at him, "it's not that easy; she has been dating this asshole for a few months now because her parents approve of him. And besides, I think she only sees me as a friend."

Crystal - who was sitting on the chair next to Holland and who had been listening to their conversation for a while - joined in, shaking her head while she looked at him with her dark-brown eyes, "You shouldn't think like that."

Nodding her head up and down slowly, Holland agreed with her, "I've never met the girl and don't know anything about her, but trust me when I she'd be feeling devastated without you in her life with everything what's going on; having a boyfriend - you say she doesn't like - just because her parents approve of him and having a job her parents want her to have isn't easy for her."

"Yeah," Crystal continued, shrugging her shoulders, "and it seems like she knows she can be herself around you; as if she knows you love her no matter what."

Holland and Crystal were quiet for a second before looking at each other and squealing. "That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard in my whole life!" "I know right!"

Running a hand over his buzz-cut, Dylan sighed, "hey, the thing between Nicole and me isn't like a typical Nicholas Sparks book or whatever the dude does…"

Before he could say more, he felt his phone vibrating in his jeans-pocket. Full of curiosity he took his phone out of his pocket and smiled when he saw the text was from Nicole.

_'I'm at the grocery store. Do you need me to get you anything for Saturday? x'_

The text made his day; it basically meant she was thinking about him too and that meant he wasn't the only who couldn't wait 'til Saturday.

Feeling three pair of eyes on him, he texted her back saying: _'I can't think of anything right now. Just get whatever you feel like getting, I'll pay you back. x'_

"What did it say?" Holland was the first starting to ask him questions. "What did you say back?"

Grinning, he shook his head before standing up as Tyler patted his back, saying they had to go start filming. "I'll tell you later."

Sighing dramatically, she ran a hand through her hair, "you better tell us or we'll make sure we'll find out what she sent you." Crystal laughed, nodding, "I totally agree with that!"

The friends laughed at their reaction and started walking towards the place in the big building where they had to film the scene.

* * *

Sitting on the couch, Nicole was trying to concentrate on her book that she was holding in her hands. She had a hard time doing so because Joey was sitting next to her, asking her for attention by staring at her until she would look up at him. It was annoying when they were together they couldn't do their own thing and just 'enjoy' each other's company. She didn't enjoy his company at all but she tried to hide it anyway.

"Is something wrong, Joey?" she finally looked up at him, which made him take his chance to kiss her on her soft lips. She tried liking it for a second or two but just couldn't, although she laid her hand on the back of his head just in case she thought she didn't like it.

Joey lifted her on his lap, holding her by her waist without breaking the kiss. He didn't know while they were kissing Nicole tried to imagine him being a hot actor so it wouldn't be hard trying to like kissing him. She little bad for it because basically he told her almost a week ago he loved her and he didn't want to hurt him even if she didn't like him at all.

Before she knew she imagined she was kissing Dylan instead of Joey and began playing with his black hair - or how she imagined, with Dylan's short brown hair.

She didn't know why she started liking the kiss more now she imagined he was her friend who she'd visit every Saturday, but it didn't matter for now because it made Joey smile against her lips.

"When are your parents coming back home?"

Nicole opened her eyes, looking at him in his green eyes and shrugged her shoulders, "does it matter? My parents like seeing me read anyway."

Rolling his eyes because he thought his girlfriend didn't get the hint, he sighed as he lifted her off of his lap and let her sit next to him again, so she could continue reading her book.

Nicole was just glad she made the comment; she wasn't ready or didn't want to have sex with him. She wanted her first time to be with someone special and not with some guy she didn't even like. And this subject wasn't something she could talk about with Dylan; she just totally imagined she was kissing him instead of Joey and whatever it was that came into her mind a week ago when she was with Dylan made it all very embarrassing for her to talk about it with her friend.


	5. Chapter five

Opening the front door with a key, Nicole walked into Dylan's apartment with a smile on her face. Besides feeling a little bit nervous of seeing him again after what she was imagining a few days ago, she was glad it was finally Saturday and she bought doughnuts from the grocery store, so they could eat them together today.

"I'm home!" she said after noticing Dylan wasn't in the living room and wanted to start walking around in the apartment to look for him but then she heard a noise coming from the bedroom. It sounded like someone stumbling over an object before she could hear a curse word.

As fast as she could she walked towards her friend's bedroom and saw him standing there with an painful look on his face. "Is everything alright?"

"Yeah," Dylan laughed, shaking his head at what just happened, "I'm fine. Just a little clumsy."

Feeling relieved because he was alright, she sighed as she ran a hand through her now loose her, looking into his brown eyes.

Because she was feeling a little nervous she had a hard time thinking of something to say to him, so it was quiet between the two. She looked away from him, wishing she couldn't feel the weird feeling in her stomach, hoping it weren't butterflies but just… well, just _something _else. No butterflies.

"So, you had breakfast yet?" sniggering at her nervousness, Dylan rubbed the back of his neck with his head, making his muscles flash a little as he walked past her towards the kitchen. He didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable by to keep looking at her, waiting for to answer.

"No," Dylan heard her saying loud for him to hear before he opened the refrigerator, looking for something to eat for them both, "I just woke up."

Dylan couldn't believe his own ears.

So, she just woke up and left straight away to see him without having breakfast? That wasn't something for her. She usually had breakfast with her parents and - if she didn't have 'stuff' to do - then she'd be leaving to see him. And besides all that, she was acting all nervous and uncomfortable around him. Did something happen?

He shrugged his shoulders at his thoughts and tried to ignore it, trying to think of something she'd like for breakfast. He knew she'd like to eat something light; something that wouldn't be too heavy for her stomach. But that fact didn't help him at all.

Looking at the green apples, he sniggered at himself, "Nicole, what do you want for breakfast?" He wanted to know for sure because he found it a kind of sad only giving her an apple since she always made him those delicious breakfasts.

"An apple is alright," he almost literally heard her smiling, "thank you."

So, he made himself some cereal and walked back to his room, noticing her picking up his dirty clothes that were laying on the floor. "Ehm, what are you doing?"

"You defiantly should learn to clean your room," she looked up at him with a stern look, having her hands full of clothes, "and you don't even have a basket. Where do you want me to put your clothes?"

He shook his head, smiling brightly at her cuteness as he pointed at the bathroom door, "there's a basket standing in the bathroom."

"And where is your wash machine?" she walked into the bathroom, putting the clothes into the basket before walking back to look at him again. Joey had his mother to clean his room which she found incredibly stupid, so she expected Dylan to do better.

"I don't have one," he ran a hand through his hand through his short hair in embarrassment, "my mom does my laundry."

Finding it a little funny, she sighed as she rolled her eyes, "it's because you don't have a girlfriend, but what would she think of you when you told her about your mom doing your laundry? She'd like a man doing his own laundry."

"Would you like a man doing their own laundry?" he smirked, handing her the apple before sitting down in the bed so he could eat his cereal. "Because I still don't really get why you'd be picking up my clothes and put them in the basket."

Sitting down beside him as she sighed deeply, she felt her cheeks starting to burn, "I just don't want you to sleep in a room full of clothes laying on the floor." She was looking at her hands while she shrugged her a shoulder lightly, "and expect a lot more from you than from Joey."

"What do you mean?"

He couldn't get his eyes off of her; she was so beautiful with her hair loose down over her shoulders, cheeks red and light-blue eyes looking down at her small hands that were laying on her lap. Her voice was so clean so pure that maybe if he was blind, he'd believe she was an angel.

"You know exactly what I mean, Dylan," she started playing with her fingers, again shrugging her shoulders, "you're so much better than him and I don't know… how and why. I don't understand." Her voice trailed off, sounding so quiet that Dylan had a hard time hearing it. And besides that, it sounded as if she was upset, as if she was about to cry.

Not hungry anymore, Dylan put away the bowl with cereal on the nightstand and wanted to touch her; hug her and tell her everything was going to be alright. But he couldn't. If she didn't understand it then how could he understand it and tell her everything was going to be alright?

Nicole felt tears rolling down her cheeks, making her stand up from the bed before walking out of the room, not wanting Dylan to see her cry. And besides, she didn't know why she just blurted everything out what she was thinking in front of Dylan. What would he have been thinking?

She wiped away her tears, trying to think of something else as she turned on the TV. She sat down on the couch and sighed deeply, going through the channels.

Back in the bedroom, Dylan was still sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. He didn't know what to do, since she definitely wasn't going to talk to him about her problems like she usually did. It was like everything was going downwards; he wouldn't be surprised at all if she came with an excuse so she didn't have to come next Saturday and maybe after that she didn't even text him if she didn't come. She was feeling so uncomfortable and nervous around him and a few minutes back it sounded like if she was about to cry. Why the hell didn't she just tell him what was wrong?


	6. Chapter six

"How do you know that for sure?" His friend said, taking a sip his coke, "I thought she was looking pretty comfortable."

Dylan started to snigger as he shook his head, having a lot of memories and thoughts running through his head about her, "No, she kind of was thought how to introduce herself to people or how to act, so her parents could invite important people over at their house or something like that."

"Really?" Tyler was surprised, haven't gotten to meet anyone like her in his life before . "Now I get why you said she's something else. God, that sounds freaking-… Are you sure you want her as a girlfriend?"

"Maybe it seems freaking hard to date someone with parents like hers and she is something else," he shrugged his shoulders, running a hand through his hair, "but that's not the thing. She doesn't call my apartment home for nothing. She feels here at home-…"

"She feels at home whenever she's with you" Tyler corrected him, knowing exactly was he was going to tell him. "She feels comfortable whenever she's with you, wherever she's with you." He threw his hands in the air, "Damnit, don't be so stupid."

Dylan looked at him for a few seconds before looking at his hands, sighing. He didn't really know what to say; all he could agree with was she was actually looking quite comfortable whenever she was with him. When they first met to making a YouTube video together, from eating ice cream together to being with each other every Saturday. Until today, because today she wasn't looking comfortable at all. She looked nervous, uncomfortable and maybe a little bit emotional as if something happed; something she didn't want to talk about him and he didn't like it at all.

* * *

Holland, Crystal and Nicole were walking with a few clothing bags in their hands after walking into a few stores with clothes, shoes and other sorts of fashion. They were tired carrying from trying on things, walking and carrying their bags, and so now they were walking their way to a café nearby.

They ordered something to drink and sat down at a table outside, laughing a little bit at the many bags they were holding.

"Whoah, I'm glad there were a lot of sales" Crystal put a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she took a sip from her coffee, "especially on the scarfs; I seriously love scarfs."

"Scarfs easy accessories to put with an outfit just like purses," Holland nodded, looking over at Nicole with a questioned look, "how about you, what do accessories do you like?"

"I don't really like accessories," Nicole shrugged her shoulders, playing a little with the necklace Joey once gave her as a present, "I like it simple when my parents don't pay attention to what I'm wearing. I already have a hard time putting on and off a necklace every day."

"Aaww," Crystal pouted, shaking her head at her, "it must be hard to have strict parents."

Sighing, Nicole took a sip of her tea, "my parents aren't strict; they want the best for me and they want me to be able to get what I want in life-…" She stopped herself, "I guess."

She didn't know why she was talking about her life with these girls but she knew for almost for sure Dylan didn't invite them for nothing to go shopping with her. He wanted her to talk to them a little so she didn't have to talk to him for once.

"What do you want in life?" Holland asked her in curiosity and Crystal nodded, because they both knew she had a boyfriend she didn't like and she had to work at the bank in a year she didn't want to work at. They wanted to know what she'd like to become if she wasn't too afraid to live her life without having to please her parents.

And then after sighing again deeply, Nicole started to talk. Talk about her wishes, about what type of guy she wanted to marry, about how many children she wanted and how she much wanted to make her children happy.

Holland and Crystal were sitting there, in front of her, listening to her talk. She was so strong and they felt a little embarrassed because they haven't even thought about those things yet and she knew exactly what she wanted in life while they were a few years older than her.

"And I don't understand why I haven't even thought about bringing Dylan home when we just met, so my parents could've met him and get to know him a little better," she started, eyes starting to tear, "and now everything is just ruined, it's too late. I've a boyfriend who told me he loves me, I've even met his parents and I'm in college learning how to be an secretary just like my mother and-…"

"Sweetheart," Holland shook her head, interrupting her by taking her hand and squeezing a little, "it's never too late to start a new life; to have another job, to have a new boyfriend and marry him and… then have a children. It's not ruined, it's not too late."

"But I'm actually starting to like him as more as a friend," she looked up at her, a tear rolling down her cheek. "I imagined Joey as him when we were making out on the couch, so I didn't have a hard time pretending to like it."

Crystal laid a hand on her mouth so Nicole couldn't see her smiling a little, "Oh, you don't have to be embarrassed about it or anything. Dylan is the only one who knows the real you and you feel comfortable with him; it happens very often that people fall for their best friend."

Holland nodded, giving her a sweet smile, "and you could still be friends if you are dating; those relationships are the best."

Trying to ignore them a little, she wiped away her tears, "but how am I going to start a new life?" She sighed, running a hand through her hair, "I don't think I'm ready."

"We'll help you through it" the girls said, looking at each other for a second before turning away to look at her again. "We're going to be there for you at every step you take."

Glad she finally talked about it with someone, she agreed; she was going to try to start a new life.


	7. Chapter seven

After eating the pizza they ordered, the friends went to eat the doughnuts instead of ice cream while they watched some shows on TV. Holland and Crystal couldn't stop talking about the lead role - who was a handsome guy – and Tyler was trying to stop their talking, so he could actually follow the show. Nicole and Dylan couldn't stop laughing at how he tried to stop them.

"Women, do you have even have any respect for others?" he was looking at the two giggling girls sitting on either side of him, "Because I don't think so. Damnit, I'm trying to watch this."

Having the whole couch for them alone, Nicole was sitting right next to Dylan, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. She was tired and her stomach was hurting from the laughing, but she had to break the fun eventually, taking her phone out of her jeans pocket.

Dylan stopped laughing, noticing her checking the time and looking up at him with a sigh. "You don't have to leave just yet, you know. You could wait for a few hours, you could stay the night."

It was the second time almost having him beg her to stay since she visited him in his apartment for the first time, so she had a hard time saying no. "Dylan, I have to go and you know that. Don't make it harder for me to leave, alright?"

Their friends had stopped talking quite quickly, looking at them having a conversation with each other. Crystal found it sad, seeing for the first time how hard it was for Dylan to have her leaving every Saturday-night. And it was not only hard for him; Nicole stood up before he could stop her and picked up her heels from the floor. She almost fell at how quickly she wanted to put them on, making the brunette stand up and hold her by her waist.

She almost forgot how hard it was to leave him before having to wait for a week until next Saturday and then having to leave again. God, if there was a way to make it all stop.

But hold on, she didn't have to wait until next Saturday; she could just visit him whenever she wanted to if she was free from college, dates with Joey and what not. It was all a part of starting a new life and the girls were going to be there every step she took. Everything was going to be alright.

"I'll see you next week" she smiled brightly at him and nodded confidently, before kissing the tip of his nose, "Everything is going to be alright."

Holland and Crystal smiled, knowing exactly what she meant, "we'll see you around, Nicole. And call us if something's wrong, alright?"

"Will do" she nodded at them and turned around to walk towards to front door, after giving a confused Dylan a wink. "Bye, everyone!"

Seeing the door closed behind her, the boy sat down on the couch again, looking at the girls with a questioned look. "What just happened?"

Tyler agreed, also looking at the girls, "yeah, what was up with that?"

The girls shook their heads at the same time, giggling at their friends as they both looked at each other, "we'll tell you someday." "Yeah, don't worry about it."

Sighing deeply, Dylan looked at his hands as he played with them, "that's beautiful, so beautiful."

* * *

After waking up the next morning with a smile on her face, Nicole took a shower and made herself ready for the day. Although she couldn't see Dylan today, she was still happy with the thought she'd surprising him by visiting him early this week and making him dinner when he came home from working all day.

She wore a flower-dress, black heels with her hair up into a ponytail and light make up on her face, when she walked downstairs towards the kitchen where her mother was making breakfast. She also was smiling but she knew that was because she was a morning person. She had always been a morning person, humming the same song every morning as she made breakfast.

"Good morning, princess," her father turned to look up from the newspaper at his daughter and gave her a smile, "have you had a nice sleep?"

"Good morning and yes, father, I've had a nice sleep" she sat down at the table, returning a smile while nodding, "thank you."

Her mother sat down on the chair across from her, mumbling a little prayer before starting breakfast, with still a smile on her face. "I was telling your father how excited I am for today."

"Why is that, mother?" Nicole laid a bit of the salad on her plaid and gave her a questioned look. There must be something special about family - day today and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know what.

"Today we're going to go golfing," her father answered for his wife, making Nicole sigh in relief. "And golfing is one of your grandfather's and my talents. I'm sure it's going to be a competition between us all; who's going to win and who's going to lose?"

She giggled, shaking her head just like her mother, "good luck, father. I hope you're going to win."

Proud of himself, he took a bite of his food as he smiled, "of course I'm going to win, princess."

She didn't know what exactly was running through her head before she knew the excitement was about the golfing, but she was just glad it wasn't too serious. What if the excitement was because they knew Joey was going to propose to her today? God, no. Thank God the excitement wasn't about that. That would've been the most serious thing happening to her in 20 years of living. _Yes, probably._

* * *

While Nicole was golfing with her family and Joey's family, miles away from her, Dylan was at the set eating his breakfast with his co-stars. Holland and Crystal were talking to Colton, sitting across from him and Tyler was sitting next to him as usual. They were talking about the next scene they had to shoot together while sometimes rehearsing a few lines before Colton started with another subject.

"How was shopping with Nicole yesterday, by the way?" he asked as he took a bite from his food, looking at the girls in curiosity. "Have you bought something interesting?"

_"Something?" _ Dylan's jaw dropped open, repeating what his friend just said, shaking his head, "They came back with lots of bags full of clothes, scarfs, shoes-… Well, I don't freaking know what they bought really, but come one, they could've filled a whole new closet with what they bought."

Giggling, Crystal and Holland nodded, "There were a lot on sale, so we bought a bunch of stuff we liked. Then we went to have a drink at a café." "It was actually really fun."

"I didn't even know she liked shopping" Dylan sniggered after swallowing his food, and took another bite. "She always told me she found trying on clothes and what not annoying. But I guess, it's different going shopping with girls from her age instead of with her mom."

Holland shrugged her shoulders at him, taking a sip from her coffee, "well, whether she liked going shopping or not, she is a really nice and sweet girl and is definitely one of a kind."

Agreeing with her best friend, Crystal ran a hand through her dark hair, "No wonder you love her!"

Colton shove away his plate before putting his hands in his pockets, looking at his friends, "I really wanna meet her. She sounds like a nice girl."

"You should meet her!" Holland started, turning to look at her best friend. "When we were sitting at the café, I asked her what she wanted in life. She knew exactly what she wanted; How many children, what type of guy she wants to marry, what job she wants, where she wants to live…"

"Yeah," Crystal nodded as she smiled brightly, before pouting a little thinking about happened, "but then she was so sad and she was almost crying-…"  
"Why was she crying?" Tyler raised his eyebrow in concern, noticing the expression on her face. Then he looked at Dylan, who was thinking the same as him, "You told her she was about to cry when she was with you, right?"

He nodded but didn't look at him, sitting straight up. "What was wrong with her? What did she say?"

Looking at her friend as if she wanted to ask her who was going to answer him and if they were going to answer him, Holland sighed while shaking her head.

Crystal played with her hair, biting her lip in doubt, "maybe she should tell you herself, because I'm not sure she wants you to know just yet. It's worth the wait, though."

Dylan sighed dramatically as he ran a hand through his short brown hair, wanting to know what was going on with her, wanting to know what he didn't know but what the girls did know.


	8. Chapter eight

After a long day at work, Dylan closed the front door of his apartment with a sigh. He was so tired that maybe if he wanted to he could just lay down on the couch and fall asleep in seconds. He had to wake up early around 6 AM and had to do a few scenes all over again because he forgot his lines. That was nothing like him, even when he couldn't stop thinking about _her_.

Surprisingly, he head an angelic voice singing one of his favorite One Direction songs which made him stop walking towards the couch. The voice belonged to Nicole, who was cooking chicken soup in the kitchen who had no idea he had come home already.

It didn't feel like it was real, having his favorite girl cooking for him on a Tuesday. It felt like a dream as if he fell asleep at work and someone could be waking him up at any minute.

He didn't remember falling asleep though, so he walked into the kitchen to see her smiling down at the stockpot, stirring the soup with a ladle.

"Nicole?" he said to get her attention and it worked, because she looked at him immediately as she jumped. "Oh my god, Dylan," she laid a hand on her chest and giggled nervously, "you scared me."

Grinning cheekily, he walked up to her and kissed her cheek gently, "I'm sorry. Didn't mean to do that."

She shook her head and sighed, but was still smiling, "it's fine."

"So," he leaned onto the counter, putting his hands in his pockets while keeping his eyes on her beautiful face, "what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to surprise you" she answered simply as she grabbed the toast, putting them on a plate that she set down on the table. "How was your day?"

Dylan shook his head, starting to mumble about how his day was although he didn't want to talk about it. He wanted to hear her talk, especially when he was feeling exhausted.

They sat down at the table, grabbing both their bowl of chicken soup and a spoon. Dylan smiled at the blonde, glad he didn't have to wait until Saturday to see her. "And how was your day?"

"My day?" taking a bite of her toast, she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Woke up at 7, packed my bag, went to school, after school I went to the grocery store and… here I was, waiting for you to come home and cooking dinner."

"How about tonight?" he started, hoping she would stay the night. "I assume you've got school tomorrow and-…"

"I told my parents I was going to sleep over at Holland's," she giggled, feeling her cheeks heat up as she played with her hair, "so, yeah, I don't expect me coming home tonight, so-…"

"I'll sleep on the couch," Dylan interrupted her, winking at her while not being able to hide his wide grinning. " and you sleep in the bed, alright?."

"If it doesn't bother you" Nicole mumbled as she looked down at her food, uncomfortably putting a strand of hair behind her ear. "And it's your bed, so-…"

"It's not bothering me," he shook his head, still grinning widely. "Not at all."

She looked up at him again and giggled shyly before continuing her dinner again, "okay."

Whatever it was that made her surprise him like that, it had definitely something to do with the conversation she had with Holland and Crystal. The girls were both acting really weird about it whenever he asked them about it, making him curious as hell. It made him also worried, having no idea what she was planning and if there was something coming her way to protect her from. But one thing he knew for sure, he was happy having her sleep over at his apartment on a Tuesday night and _yup, he was definitely dreaming._

* * *

Having Dylan sitting next to her with his head on her shoulder, Nicole was sitting on the couch doing her homework that had to be done for tomorrow.

She was tired of thinking, figuring out what she was reading, what she was writing on her notebook and how anyone could actually understand the stuff she was doing right now. She had no idea why in the name of God she was learning something like this in college while she wanted to do something different with her life. She didn't want be a secretary, she wanted to be something like an actress, a singer, a writer and maybe even a hairdresser or makeup stylist. She just wanted something different than sitting behind a computer all day and doing nothing than something with numbers and stuff like that. She didn't want that at all; it wasn't like her.

"Is something wrong?" Dylan pushed a button on the TV-remote, making the TV go on mute and lifted up his head to look at the girl. "All you're doing is staring at your book."

"No, it's nothing" shaking her head, she found herself trailing off again into her thoughts.

She wanted to make people happy, that was something she wanted to with her life instead of sitting behind a computer all day. All she had to figure out was how she was going to do that; all she did was reading, hanging out with her _boyfriend, _doing school stuff and visiting Dylan every Saturday.

Nicole looked at him with a thoughtful expression, she sighed, "do I have any talents?"

"Of course you have talents; everyone has talents!" he smiled at her, putting a strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't understand why you're asking me."

"Because you probably know me better than I know myself," she told him, playing with the pen she had her hand. "So, what I'm trying to ask you right now is what talents I have. Tell me, Dylan, do I have any talents?"

Noticing she was talking in the way they first met, he smiled brightly as he took her hand, thinking about what talents she had. Although he didn't have to think hard, he didn't want to forget telling her talents he knew she had, so he took his time.

"You've always been really good at taking care of people and making them smile," Dylan started, looking her into her eyes. "It really doesn't matter in what way, you're just really good at it." He sighed, playing with her hand, "your voice is beautiful, so singing is also one of your talents. Writing is one of your talents; remember that one time you read me a poem you had to write for English?"

Nicole giggled, nodding her head up and down.

"You like learning about things you find interesting and you find a lot of things interesting, so therefore you're good at learning" Dylan sniggered, pointing it out just to make sure she knew and to make her laugh, which worked. "You are good at cooking; your food is like Heaven, okay? Come on, nobody can tell you can't."

Nicole couldn't stop smiling at what she was told to be her talents. She had no idea the things she liked doing were also her talents. It made everything definitely a lot easier for her to choose what she wanted to do in life to make people happy.

"But what really stands out is your talent in doing things you don't want to do," he told her last but not least, making tear up and look down at their hands that were still holding each other on her lap. He lifted up her head with his thumb, to make her look at him, "and that makes you good at acting around the people who don't know the real you."

A tear rolled down her cheek, making him grab the books from her lap and the pen out of her hand so he could pull her in a more proper hug. "I'm trying, I'm really trying to change."

Nodding, mumbling against her hair before kissing it, "It's fine, you're just really tired and emotional. Maybe you're almost on your period-…"

Nicole started to laugh against his muscled chest and nodded, "maybe I am."

"Alright," he sniggered at her, playing with the pen as he looked down at her books. "Why don't you just go to bed and I'll do your homework? I mean, I know I'm not the best at math but I'm probably better at it than you being like this right now."

She looked up at him, shaking her head in disapproval, "you're not doing my homework; it's my homework, therefore I have to do it."

"What was that?" teasing her, Dylan looked away from her with a questioned look. "Do you want me to tickle you?"

"No, not at all!" as fast as she could, Nicole stood up from the couch and giggled at him. "But you still can't do my homework-…"

"I still have legs, you know, so you could better go to bed before I go after you and-…" Before he could do as if he was going to stand up, she giggled as she walked away towards the bedroom.

Smiling at how cute she was, Dylan grabbed her books and opened them, wanting to have her homework done before he was going to fall asleep.

* * *

**It's funny how I'm posting this story online. This is the first English story I've ever written, so big chance there are mistakes in it. **

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	9. Chapter nine

Nicole sighed tiredly, walking out of Dylan's bedroom wearing a summer dress and black heels and put hair up into a ponytail. She had slept very well, so she had to tell herself to get out of bed or she was going to be late at school.

Dylan was still sleeping on the couch; his arms were laying above his head and his mouth was open, making soft snores fill the living room. It made her smile, but when she noticed her books laying on his stomach and was still wearing his regular clothes made her smile wider. He must have fallen asleep doing her homework and _god, could he even be more amazing than he already was? _

Giggling happily, she walked into the kitchen to grab herself an apple and a glass of orange juice. She didn't want to wake up Dylan just yet, knowing he had to start working at 8 until 9 in the evening and he had to be really tired if he fell actually asleep doing her homework, he didn't have to do anyway.

Hoping it wake him up, Nicole carefully grabbed her books from his stomach and put them into her bag. She kissed his forehead gently before walking out of his apartment, closing the front door behind her.

* * *

Although Dylan woke up without a sound of Nicole in his apartment, he couldn't stop smiling at work making the dramatic scene he had to shoot pretty difficult to do. Stiles, his character, was beaten up by someone and he act all upset and what not and he also had to remember his lines. _Wow, that was the second freaking amazing day in one week. _

"Why are you all smiley?" Tyler raised his eyebrows at the brunette, making him look up at from his plate with full of delicious chicken. "You got laid or something?"

"Better-…" he stopped himself, sniggering as his shook his head. "No-… well, I don't know. But Nicole came over yesterday and you're never going to believe it, but she actually was cooking dinner when I got home and slept in my bed."

Holland grinned widely at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Yesterday she got a text from the girl asking what time they would get free from work and this morning she got a text she slept over at his, saying it definitely was worth being a little uncomfortable and nervous at first.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Tyler dropped his fork, not believing his own ears. "So, she was sleeping your bed… with you in it?"

"No, I fell asleep doing her homework" he shook his head, taking a bite of his food as he noticed the girls, Colton and Daniel were listening to their conversation too. "But it was definitely worth it."

Holland squealed, clapping her hands before sitting up straighter, "That is so sweet!"

Crystal laughed at her friends, but couldn't agree less, "yeah, she right. Doing her homework and sleeping on the couch for her; way to make her fall in love with you."

"Well, it's a bonus having her fall in love with me in some way," Dylan blushed a little, starting to play with his food. "But what I really want is her to be happy. I mean, she deserves better than wanting to have to please her parents all the time-…"

"Are you sure she wants to please her parents?" Daniel asked, putting his arm around the dark-haired beauty sitting next to him. "Maybe she's just afraid to lose or to disappoint them."

Dylan knew he had a point but if she actually was afraid, how in hell would he be able to convince her not to be afraid? Maybe she'd actually lose them or disappoint them and then it was his fault, making the chance to make her happy fall to his knees in a less than a second. He didn't want that.

"Whatever it is," Crystal started, putting a strand of dark hair behind her ear as she took a sip of her drink. "She will get through everything if only you stay by her side, just in case she forgets how to breathe."

"If it was meant literally, I'd definitely send her to a doctor" Tyler sniggered at himself, looking at the boy. "Doctor Dylan."

"Hi, I'm Doctor Dylan," Dylan smirked, although he didn't ignore what Crystal just said. "A pleasure to meet you. How can I help you?"

"I forgot how to how to breathe" his friend said, trying to make it sound dramatic. "Is there a way you could teach me again?"

"Of course, asshole, I'm Doctor Dylan" the brunette pulled a funny face as he rolled his eyes, making Tyler jumped up from his chair to hug him in a joking way, "Yay me!"

* * *

It was 4 PM and Nicole came finally home from school. It was easy for her to concentrate although she didn't really like the classes she had, after having to get to see Dylan yesterday and early this morning. He made her feel happy and forget about the bad things for a while until she had to go home again.

She walked into the living room where her parents were sitting as usual. Her father with a newspaper and her mother with a cup of tea in her hands. When they noticed her standing there, they gave her a smile. "How has your day been, princess?"

"My day has been perfect, father," she returned the smile, before taking her book out of her bag as sat down on the couch. "How has your day been?"

"Good" he answered her, nodding his head and turned to look at his wife. He kissed her cheek, giving her a wink and continued to read the newspaper again.

All of the sudden she heard the doorbell ring, making her stand up from the couch in confusion and started to walk towards the front door. She wasn't expecting someone, but had her ideas of who it could be.

And yes, when she opened the door she could see Joey standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. He was looking down at his feet, making her from feeling confused to feeling worried.

"Can we talk?" he asked as he looked up at her, letting her show the serious expression he had on his face. Whatever it was what he wanted to talk about, it was definitely something important and she wasn't ready for that.


	10. Chapter ten

A moment later they were both sitting in Nicole's room, on her bed. She was waiting for him to start talking but obviously he didn't know where to start, making her feel nervous.

She hoped it didn't have anything to do with the fact she had stayed at Dylan's last night and that he was angry about it. But she had never told anything about him yet, so he didn't even know where she was every Saturday. She'd have probably told him if he asked, but he didn't, so she kept herself quiet about it.

"Ehm…" he mumbled after about 5 minutes thinking and ran a hand through his black hair. "I wanted to come see you yesterday but you weren't at home…"

Although she really wanted to look down at her feet, she kept staring at him with her light-blue eyes while she nodded her head slowly.

"And I'm not forcing you to tell me where you were, but I just want you to know that I was worried about you and that I'll be there for you if you need anything." Rambling, he was looking at the ground as he played with his fingers. "I know how it is to have strict parents; they do what they think is best for you, which means you have to go to college to learn for a job you don't want but you'll have a nice salary for and… you know?" he looked at up at her, noticing her nodding her head as if she understood what he was saying. "They introduce you to a guy or a girl they think is perfect for you and then you two basically go on dates and what not…"

Hearing someone finally say that made Nicole think she wasn't the only one feeling the way she felt doing the things she didn't want to do just to make her parents proud. She was just glad she had Dylan was there for her when she needed him, but knowing someone had the same lifestyle as her and had the same thoughts about it made it seem like her life wouldn't get any better than it already was. And it would someday, because she knew there was a whole new life waiting for her and the only thing she had to do was to be brave and follow her dreams.

"I know how you feel" she gave him a smile, taking his hand in hers as she squeezed it a little. "I don't visit my friend every Saturday for nothing; it's way of taking a break from everything around me."

"Who's your friend?" he smiled at our hands, squeezing mine back before letting go. It almost seemed as friendly as she meant it, as if they were nothing more than friends.

"Dylan O'Brien," she blushed as she giggled softly, knowing she was going to see him again soon enough. "We met in high school and became friends right away. Our friendship wasn't hidden or anything because we made a YouTube video together and in some way my mother found out. She told me to delete it, not wanting my father to find out about the fact that I was hanging out with a boy." She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know if he knows about it and if he does, what he thinks about it but I just continue to hang out with him anyway."

"You love him?"

And she knew the answer right away, nodding her head as she pictured him in her head, "yeah, I do. I love him, a lot. I don't know what I would do without him."

"You should tell him" he sniggered at her, wiggling his eyebrows. "And after that you'll both have hot steamy sex."

Not believing her own ears, Nicole mouth dropped open while looking at him with wide eyes, "I'm not going to have hot steamy sex with Dylan." She closed her mouth, throwing her hands in the air, "and I thought we were dating or something. You told me you loved me."

"And I do, as a friend" he put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into a hug. "And well, I don't know what we're going to do about the dating thing, but we'll figure it out."

Sighing with a smile, she nodded as she laid her head on his shoulder, "Yeah, you're right. We'll figure it out."

* * *

Taking his phone out of his pocket for the third time, Dylan started to dial her number until he changed his mind again and sighed dramatically. He wanted to call Nicole so badly just to hear her voice but he never called her, just in case he'd interrupt her when she was doing something important and then she probably would ignore his call anyway, so she didn't have to feet her parents a lie. She had done that the first time it happened, telling him the next Saturday he'd have to send her a text before calling her, so she could go somewhere alone to answer his call.

And besides, he didn't know what to say when she would pick up. He couldn't just tell her, 'Hey Nicole, I'm just calling you because I wanted to hear you voice, so if you just talk to freaking shit out of yourself I can continue doing my job.' No, that wasn't something charming to say.

Hearing a squeal, he looked up to see Holland answering her phone with a big smile on her face. She moved her legs back and forth, sitting on of the chairs a few meters away while taking a sip of her coffee so now and then.

Having a feeling it was Nicole calling her, Dylan tried to eavesdrop the conversation through all the noise around them. There was just something about how she reacted on the phone call, that made him think it was her.

But before he could have a chance to hear her actually say something, she looked up at him and giggled. Then she stood up and walked away, leaving him sit there with a thoughtful look. It was Nicole calling his co-star on the phone and he knew it.

* * *

It was 10 PM when Dylan tiredly walked into his apartment, noticing Nicole's heels and bag laying on the floor near the couch. Although he didn't know exactly where she was, he was glad he didn't have to tell himself to man up anymore to call her just to hear her voice… but that was just for today. Tomorrow she'll probably be going home again to see her slimy asshole boyfriend. And then they make out, maybe even have sex… and God, he didn't even want to think about it.

All of the sudden heard her from his bedroom, calling his name with a soft voice as if she was about to fall asleep at any second. "Dylan, is that you?"

He walked towards his door, opening it to see her laying in his bed with her eyes closed. It made Dylan smile to see her like that; he almost wanted to lay down next to her, cuddle with her and fall asleep like that. But he couldn't because-… well, he didn't actually know why he couldn't. Okay, he knew she had a boyfriend, but she only dating him because her parents. It wasn't like she liked him or anything. And besides, her parents couldn't be a reason they weren't dating because she was still hanging out with him, although she knew they didn't like her hanging out with boys. He didn't get it, he didn't get it at all. But if he had to guts to make a move, he still wouldn't have done it; she was really shy - God, even worse than him - and if he would make a move, she wouldn't be coming to visit him ever again. Besides that, she didn't like saying no, so asking her on a date wouldn't be helpful either.

"Yeah, it's me," he said, making her open her sleepy eyes as she smiled slightly. "I got free from work late, so yeah… I'm sorry for waking you up or anything. And ehm, yeah-…"

"You could stay if you want to," she patted with her hands on the space right next to her, having a hard time keeping her eyes open. "I don't want you having to sleep on the couch for me again."

Closing the door behind him, a smiled appeared on his face as he walked towards the bathroom to get himself ready for bed.

After a few minutes, he came back to lay down next to her before he felt her snuggling up to him, head against his chest. Although he really wanted to do a victory dance, he just simply laid his arm around her and kissed her hair softy. "Sweet dreams, muffin cutie."

"Aaww, I like muffins" she pouted, yawning a little. "Goodnight, Dyl."

Closing his eyes as he sighed deeply, he felt himself falling a asleep in less than a minute dreaming of the girl sleeping right in his arms.


	11. Chapter eleven

"So, have you told him you love him or…?" Joey played a little with the strings of the guitar that was laying on his lap as he stared at her with his green eyes. "Because really, I don't see why not."

"You don't see why not?" Nicole's mouth dropped open, shaking her head as if he was crazy. "He's been my friend for - what, how long? - 5 years. I can't just tell him I'm in love with him."

Rolling his eyes at her, he sniggered as he looked at his guitar, "you could always make a move if you're not ready to tell him how you feel." He put his arm around your shoulders with a thoughtful look, "Give him a compliment; something about his appearance or his personality. Just like girls, guys like compliments and a simple 'you're cute' or 'you're funny' is enough, just make sure you mean it."

She played with the necklace she was still wearing, sighing while she looked at her feet, "then how am I going to do that? I'll be stuttering, maybe even blushing and I don't like that at all."

"Well, I bet he'd probably notice and feel really special because a freaking shy girl had the guts to give him a compliment" he shrugged his shoulders, not knowing how to actually to help her feel more confident. "He's your friend, right? So, it'll be alright."

They had been talking about this for half an hour now and all she came to visit him was to ask him what he wanted her to do with the necklace. She was only wearing it because of him, but now they weren't dating anymore and she didn't really know what to do with it. Maybe he wanted it back or maybe he didn't want her to take it off just yet, because their parents still didn't know about them breaking up.

It was probably because she liked talking to him almost as much as she liked talking to Dylan. Now she knew he had a hard time keeping the secret from his parents that he played guitar in metal band and had to perform at a gig once in a while. His parents also didn't know he had a tattoo near his collarbone he showed her, but he didn't feel guilty about it at all.

"We slept in same bed last night," she muttered, feeling her cheeks heating up as she looked at her feet. "I woke up and he was still asleep, having his arm around my waist and… you know, I just wanted to lay there with him all day. Cuddle with him, sleep and talk and just-… I just didn't want to leave again. I always leave."

"You really love him, don't you?"

She looked up at him and nodded as she sighed deeply. _Yeah, she really did love him. A lot._

* * *

Dylan was laying on the couch, going through the channels because he was bored. He questioned himself whether she would come there to sleep over or she would stay at her parents tonight; he really wanted to see her again-… no, he wanted to just hold her like yesterday and fall asleep. Also he wanted to hear her voice because they didn't do much talking when he came home late and right in the morning she left him without waking him up. Although he was used to waking up alone, he would never get used to her leaving. If she could just stay for one day without going anywhere…

He sighed, sitting up as he took his phone out of his pocket. It was 9 PM and he hadn't heard anything from her yet. He probably should ask her if she'd text him if whether she wouldn't come or would come over, so he didn't have to wait for her. Or to be excited about anything. God, no, what if asking her would stop her from coming over more than just Saturday. Or she would never come over again because it was too much to ask her. _Not asking her it was. _

All of the sudden the front door got opened, making Dylan look up from his phone and seeing Nicole close the door behind her before looking at him. "I'm sorry I'm late, but I had stuff to do and… I wanted to text you, but-…"

"It's fine," he raised his eyebrows in confusion, mouth dropping open. "You don't have to be sorry, I wasn't even expecting you to come, really. Actually. So…" He smiled, noticing how gorgeous she looked in her dark-blue dress. "How was your day?"

Surprised at the question, she smiled brightly and kicked off her heels, dropping her bag on the floor before sitting down next to him. "My day was actually really great. After school I went to Joey and we talked a little-… well, not a little. We couldn't stop talking, but you know… He's actually a really nice guy and he's nothing like I expected at all."

"Well, that's great, right?" trying to make her think she was happy for her by fake smiling, he nodded his head up and down. He wasn't happy at all because this freaking slimy asshole was going to break her heart into million pieces and he couldn't do anything about it. And if he could, she wouldn't let him anyway.

"He dropped me off here, he had to go had a rehearsal with his band for Friday, so…" she shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing. "He plays guitar in a metal band, did you know that?"

_Scratch 'slimy asshole', 'slimy rock star asshole' it is-… Wait, what? _

"He knows about me?" raising his eyebrows in confusion, his mouth dropped open for the second time. "How does he know about me?"

Asking herself why in the name of God she would blurt out something like that, she stood up from the couch and started walking away from him. "Do you mind if I take a shower?"

"No-…" he realized she ignored her question, so stood up quickly, running after her. "No, no, wait, hold on." He jumped in front of her, looking at her with his brown eyes, "Did you tell him about me?"

Beginning to play with her fingers nervously, Nicole blushed as shrugged her shoulders, "It's a really long story and I don't really have the time; it's 9 PM and I'm tired and you know I don't like sleeping with my hair wet."

"Long story short," he threw his hands in the air, looking at her with searching eyes. "Tell me how he knows about me. Did you tell him about me?"

"Why does it matter so much to you?" she opened her bag, picking out some underwear and pajamas. Then she walked into the bathroom, having Dylan walk behind her. "It's not that important or anything."

"Yes, it is," he noticed her undoing her braid and taking of her necklace as he shook his at what he was about to say to her, "do you even know how hard it is for me to know your parents don't like me at all? It makes me feel like I'm not even a part of your life, that I've never really been a part of your life and I'm just some kind of guy who you hang out with every Saturday. Just Saturday. Only freaking stupid Saturday and then you leave, " he took a pause, seeing tears fill her light blue eyes. "You always leave and it hurts. It hurts a lot. And then I have to wait until you come back and then in evening, you leave again."

He sighed deeply, feeling as if his heart started to get to feel lighter in his chest after all this time keeping this from her. But seeing the tears roll down her cheeks didn't make him feel any better, so he took a step back just to give her some space. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry. I just-… I just wanted-…" He stopped, shaking his head. "I don't really know what I wanted. I'm sorry."

Wiping her tears away, she kept staring at him in his brown eyes, "You don't have to be sorry, I just didn't know you felt like that. I'm sorry for not noticing, I'm really naïve and you know that. You know me a lot better than myself and anyone and…" She sighed, beginning to play with her fingers again, "I wouldn't know what do without you in my life, really."

Hearing a say that, made him smile a little and seeing him smile, made her smile automatically. So, there they stood, looking in each other's eyes as they both smiled for a moment until they both realized Nicole wanted to take a shower.

"I'll just go," he sniggered awkwardly, taking a few steps back as he pointed at the shower. "You take your time showering. I ehm… yeah. I'll see you." He nodded, noticing her giggle while blushing before closing the door behind him. _Oh my god, that was awkward. _


	12. Chapter twelve

Waking up by Dylan wrapping his arm around her waist, Nicole sighed deeply while trying to lift his arm, so she could make herself ready for school. Once it made him roll himself over to lay on his back, she stood up and picked out some clothes from her bag.

She brushed her teeth after changing, put on her necklace and put on some makeup. While brushing her hair, she walked towards the kitchen where she grabbed an apple out the refrigerator. She took a bite, walked back to the bedroom and sat down on the bed to wake up Dylan, because she knew he'd like that instead of leaving without waking him up. He didn't tell her that yesterday for nothing.

Caressing his cheek softly, she watched him slowly waking up and opening his eyes. He looked at her, smiled brightly and sighed, "good morning, sunshine. Have you slept well?"

"Good morning and yeah, I've slept well. Thank you," she wanted to take a bite from the apple, but before she could Dylan grabbed the apple out of her hand and took a bite from it. She shook her head at his action and took the apple back with a smile on her face, "How about you?"

"Yeah, I guess so" he turned to lay on his side and hugged her waist. "When are you coming back?"

Playing with his brown hair, Nicole sighed deeply and shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure. After school I'll be at my parents', which is around three and so… and maybe I'll meet up with Joey, but I'm not sure if he has time. If he doesn't, I'll just text him good luck." She shook her head and giggled, "I'll just text to you when I know for sure."

Ignoring the Joey part, he nodded his head at her as he smiled, "Don't rush or anything. I'll be fine."

She kissed his forehead, before standing up from the bed and she started walk out of his room, towards the front door, "then I'll see you in the evening, I guess."

"Good luck with school" Nicole heard him yawn as she opened the door and then to close the door behind her. And again, she was leaving.

* * *

It wasn't so hard anymore to get through the day for Dylan, especially when he knew Nicole would be coming back at any moment and he could sleep next to her again tonight. When she was with him, he knew she was safe and that was the only thing that really mattered to him. So, there he was, sitting with a smile on his face with his friends, talking about nothingness.

"So, when's your girl coming back?" Tyler asked, taking a sip of coke as he looked at his friend.

Grinning, he shook his head as he took his phone out of pocket to check the time, "she'll be there in a few." He looked up again, "and by the way, she isn't my girl."

"Not yet, dude," he set his glass on the table, sniggering. "But she'll be soon."

"Yeah," Holland agreed with the black-haired guy sitting next to her while nodding her head excitedly. "She's been really happy lately, you know, and that isn't because of nothing."

"What's that supposed to mean?" the boy raised his eyebrows at her, having no idea what she was trying to tell him. "She has been getting closer with the freaking slimy rock star asshole for the past few days. I don't get why her being happy has anything to do with me."

"That's because you don't know the whole story about what's been going on with her life right now," she sighed, shaking her head at him as laid her head on Colton's shoulder. "And because you're really naïve and jealous."

Before he could defend himself, Nicole opened the front door with a key and closed it behind her.

Dylan watched her sitting down on the couch with a deep sigh leaving her mouth, after kicking off her heels and dropping her bag on the floor. He knew she was feeling a little uncomfortable, but there was something about the expression her face that made him feel worried. Maybe something had happened when she was at her parents' or at school, or when she was with Joey, but she could also look a little down because she just had a long day and she was really tired. Whatever it was, he kept himself quiet about it for now.

Nicole put a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled shyly at the friends as she felt her cheeks heating up a bit, "hey."

Smiling brightly back at her, Holland took Colton's hand to introduce him to her, "hey, so… this is Colton, my best friend." Then she looked at him while pointing at her, "Colton, this is Nicole, Dylan's… ehm, yeah, you know, ehm… Dylan's Nicole."

"Yeah, hi," she joked, waving with her as she laughed. "I'm Dylan's Nicole, hi. What's up?"

The brunette laughed at her cuteness, doing the exact same; waving with his hand in the air. "How' you doin', people? I'm just hanging around, being Nicole's Dylan."

Their friends laughed, Holland blushing a little in embarrassment. She knew Nicole loved him and Dylan loved her, therefore she didn't know how to introduce her differently. They weren't dating but they also weren't really friends; Nicole loved him and Dylan loved her, but they both didn't know they felt the same way. If only there was a was a way she could help them…

* * *

Crystal had come over with her boyfriend, Daniel half an hour ago and they now had to wait for the pizza to get delivered. The girls were in the kitchen and Dylan was sitting in the living with the guys, playing video games. Although he wondered what they were talking about, he was too busy trying to win from Tyler, who was sitting next to him with the other controller in his hands.

He was happy for her to finally have girls to talk to if she didn't want to talk to him for some reason and to go shopping with or you know, just to do stuff what girls do. All she did was hanging out with him and all they did was basically hanging around in his apartment and this was something different for her. And he knew, besides that she was feeling a little uncomfortable sometimes, she also really liked to hang out with the girls.

After luckily winning from Tyler, the brunette handed Colton the controller to let him play the game with Tyler. He wanted to think of an excuse to see how Nicole was doing, but before he had an idea he was interrupted by someone patting on his shoulder.

He looked up with a questioned look, seeing Daniel smirk back at him. "You want to go see your girl, don't you? They'll come back when the pizza is delivered; girls love pizza."

"She's not my girl, alright?" the brunette sighed as he shook his head. "Well, not yet. I just need to figure out how I'm going to get her to be mine; it's not that easy, really."

"Okay, man," the boy shrugged his shoulders, looking at the guys who were laughing hard because Tyler was now the one losing the game. "if you want to make it harder than it already is, it's your choice. But just so you know, if you don't do anything about it soon maybe it's too late."

Hearing that made him a little frustrated, throwing his hands in the air as he sat up straight, "how am I supposed to do anything about it if she has a freaking boyfriend? And besides, she doesn't even liked me."

Shaking his head, Daniel looked at him with his blue eyes, "are you sure about that, man?"

The boy raised his eyebrows in confusion, turning his head away from him to look at his feet and sighed. Why did he have a feeling they knew things about Nicole he didn't know anything about?

* * *

_**It's funny how I've written this story months ago. My English has improved since then. **__**I'm busy with another Dylan O'Brien fanfiction right now, called 'Right there'. I'll post it online soon and I hope people would like that story as much as this one. All of your reviews, followers and favorites make me so happy. Thank you! :D**_

_**Have a nice day/night! :)**_


	13. Chapter thirteen

When the doorbell was heard, Nicole was the first one grab her wallet out of her bag, to stand up from the couch and walk towards the front door to open it. She thought it was nice of her to let the others continue their chatting, so she could pay the delivery guy for the pizza. But she didn't expect a handsome guy to be standing there in the doorway with a few pizza boxes in his hands and a charming smile on his face, his white teeth showing.

Almost out of panic, she slammed the door and turned around to look at her friends. They were looking at her as if she was crazy, laughing a little at her action. "Why did you slam the door in his face? He has our pizza and you have to pay him."

"You do it," the blonde shook her head quickly, looking at Holland with her light-blue eyes. "I'm not doing it. He's too handsome."

Before anyone could say something to try to help her build up some confidence, again a knock was heard on the door, making her run a hand through her hair in frustration. How was she ever going to give Dylan a compliment if she couldn't even pay a handsome delivery guy? If she could turn out her shyness for a second and just do it, it would've been really helpful but she couldn't. So, there she was sighing deeply before she turned around again to open the front door and giggle at the guy.

"Hi," she opened her wallet as she tried to think of an excuse why she just literally slammed the door in his face. "I'm so sorry for slamming the door like that, I just had to grab some extra money."

"It's totally fine, lady" the guy gave her a nod, before looking at the receipt with his green eyes to check how much he had to pay him. He shook his head while grinning widely, "You know what, if you give me 30 bucks and a chance to get to know you a little better, you'll get the rest from the house."

Trying to hide her pink cheeks, she looked away from him as she played with her fingers uncomfortably. She could say no to him and thank him for the offer anyway, but she didn't know how to say it in the nicest way possible.

Before she could look at the boy again to at least give him a reaction or anything, she felt a warm arm around her waist. "How about she just pays you the amount of money that is standing on this…" it was Dylan who grabbed the receipt out of the boys hands to look at it. "little piece of paper. You alright with that?"

Butterflies flew around in her stomach as she felt the thumb from the hand that was laying on her hip move up and down slowly. Just that little thing made her feel crazy on the inside, made her feel like she could explode at any second. Sometimes she wished Dylan knew how he made her feel, so she didn't have to make a move or however Joey called it. It has been a day he told her start with giving him a compliment and she still hadn't done it. How was she ever going to do that with her being the extremely shy girl she was?

The dark haired boy shrugged his shoulders at Dylan, making the girl take the right amount of money out of her wallet. After handing the boy the money, he gave her the pizza boxes with the same charming smile on his face. "Have a nice evening."

She couldn't even say thank you or Dylan slammed the door in shut as he rolled his eyes. Then he took the boxes out the girl's hands to walk towards his friends, "Pizza!"

Trying to ignore his weird behavior from just then, Nicole sat down next to Dylan and sighed.

"That wasn't so bad now, was it?" Crystal grinned, taking the last bite of her pizza while looking at her with her dark-brown eyes.

* * *

Nicole, who was already full after having 4 slices of pizza, raised her eyebrows in confusion, putting a strand of hair behind her air. "What do you mean?"

"The pizza delivery guy" Holland threw her hands in the air, laughing. "Are you mad at Dylan because he was rude to him?"

Thoughtfully, the blonde shook her head and sighed, "I can't imagine myself being mad at him… like ever. Or at anyone else, so…"

"You can be a little firecracker if you want to, though" Dylan mumbled with a smile, staring at her.

She giggled as she turned to look at him, "only when I'm with you."

Colton laughed, giving them a comment, "that means something, right?"

Daniel agreed with him, nodding his head while he put an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, "that means he is an annoying little shit."

The friends started to laugh, excluding Dylan. He was faking a dramatic cry, wrapping his arms around the beauty sitting next to him, causing her laugh to turn into a giggle.

He laughed at her cuteness, freeing her from his grip after he kissed her temple lightly. She wanted to hide her pink cheeks by looking down at her hands, but before she could, Holland asked her something. "Joey is performing at a gig tonight, right?"

Nodding awkwardly, not wanting to talk about him since Dylan didn't know about their breakup yet, she looked at her while playing with her hair. "Yes. Why are you asking?"

"Have you wished him good luck?" Crystal laid her head on Daniel's shoulder, feeling comfortable being with him sitting right next to her. The boy wasn't only gorgeous but was also really sweet, funny and nice to talk to.

"Not really," feeling all eyes on her, she shrugged her shoulders and giggled. "He was busy rehearsing and I didn't want to interrupt them or anything, so I just texted him." She blushed, shaking her head at herself for being such a incredibly shy person, "And I was doing my homework anyway, so I didn't really have any time."

Noticing her feeling uncomfortable, Dylan laid his hand on her knee to let her know it was alright. It made her sigh deeply, nodding her head as if she wanted to thank him without looking at him. It was funny how they could communicate without even looking at each other; they were close, knowing almost everything about each other.

"Talking about time," Tyler looked at his watch, checking the time. "I have to go, my girlfriend is probably waiting for me at my apartment."

Crystal looked at her boyfriend while at the same time Holland looked at her best friend, Colton. "Are we leaving? I want to watch my show." "And I'm getting a little tired."

They boys nodded, looking at the friends sitting on the couch, "We're leaving. Sorry, guys."

Shaking her head, Nicole smiled at them, "I'm also getting pretty tired, so… it's no problem." She stood up, noticing the girl also standing up and hugged them. "I'll see you next time."

"Yeah, and text me if something's wrong, alright?" Holland gave her a smile, starting to pull Colton towards the front door. Crystal did the same; pulling Daniel with her from Dylan who waved at each other. "See you later, dude!" "Bye, man!"

After seeing the door close behind them, the blonde and brunette looked at one another, shrugging their shoulders. "And what do we do now?


	14. Chapter fourteen

They had stayed for a while when they woke up the next morning. It didn't really matter what they did that day, whether they would be talking or he'd be holding her while they were looking at the ceiling in silence, it was just nice to be around each other.

When it was around 11 o'clock in the morning, they made breakfast and watched all three 'High School Musical' movies, still in their pajamas. Whenever a song came on, they would sing along with it loud enough for their neighbors to hear. They even danced and jumped on the couches, while laughing at each other for no reason.

But that was until Nicole realized she had told the girls she wanted to go home tomorrow morning to be with her parents. Then she'd go back at Tuesday, so she didn't have to stay away from the fun too long. She didn't have to worry about being the perfect daughter here; she could just stay in her pajamas all day and eat whatever she liked. Like lots of candy, chocolate and ice cream. She didn't use the possibility to do so often, because she was generally a healthy person and she also didn't like to do stuff behind anyone's back. She wanted to stay true.

Dylan made them dinner, leaving the dishes on the counter for tomorrow and went to bed around 8 PM, not knowing what to do else than sleep. He fell asleep fast, hearing her hum a song softly in his ear while he was laying in her arms for a change. Right after that, she also fell asleep.

* * *

It was a kind of hard for the boy to let the beauty leave again, but he knew she'd be coming back on Tuesday. Now Saturday wasn't his only favorite day of the week, also the days when she would be home at his apartment had become his favorite. How easy it was for her to make him feel the happiest man in the universe, she didn't even know. If she did though, _God, that wouldn't be awkward at all, would it?_

"Dylan," Holland looked at him with her green eyes, phone still in her hand after reading Nicole's text about something seriously important. "Just help me here, alright? I need to listen to me."

Shaking his thoughts away, he sat up straight to look at her, "I'm listening."

"Nicole just send me a text," she took a pause, playing with her hair nervously, noticing his worried expression on his face. "Remember when she lied about going to sleep over at mine? Her parents asked her about me and she thinks it means they want know more about me, which freaking means she can't tell her parents I'm an actress because they will freaking disapprove of me!"

"No, no, I'm sure they won't," Dylan shook his head, trying to calm her down but then trailed off, starting to think about her again with a grin his face. "You're a girl and girls are good. Girls are really good and beautiful, especially her. She's gorgeous-…"

"Dylan, focus!" the strawberry blonde threw waved at him to get his attention. "It's not going to be okay, if I'm telling her parents that I'm an actress-…"

Sighing deeply, he looked at his hands to try to focus on the problem, "You've had a good education, you're incredibly smart and I can't see anyone not liking you, so..." He looked up again, shrugging his shoulders at her, "Maybe they'd be thinking for a while if it is safe for their daughter to be friends with a famous actress, but on the other hand, Holland, you're an amazing girl and I still can't see anyone not liking you. So, don't lie. Tell the truth, let her tell her about the real you."

A wide smirk appeared on his face. That was probably the most dramatic and genius advice he had ever gave anyone. And it seemed to also be really helpful, by the way Holland started to text the beauty with a relaxed smile. Yup, he did great.

"Thank you, Dylan" she looked up, laying her phone on the table before running a hand through her hair. "I still don't get why you would think she doesn't like you. You're super sweet."

He rolled his eyes, he shook his head. Not that being 'super sweet' mattered anyway, if it did, Nicole and him would've been dating for a while now and would've lived happily ever after. But no, they didn't, so he needed to be more than just 'super sweet'. Being 'super sweet' didn't help to get the girl of your dreams. But what did she actually like in a guy?

"Whatever it is you're thinking right now," she stuck up her hand as if she thought that would let him stop thinking and sighed. "I want you to stop being so insecure about yourself, because you are one fine piece of hotness, alright? Stop thinking she doesn't like you, I want you to start thinking about what you're going to do if she actually likes you."

Letting it go through his head, he pulled a thoughtful face. Yeah, what was he going to do if he does actually like him? He never really thought about that.

* * *

Joey thought it was a nice idea to teach Nicole how to play guitar after school and so there she was, sitting on his bed with a guitar in her hands. He was sitting next to her, staring at how she did her best to concentrate and to play he thought was the simplest song ever. But the girl, no, she found the song so difficult that it was now the hundredth time to play it all over again. It made her a kind of insecure and her wanting to play it as precisely as possible also wasn't very helpful.

"Why can't I just do it right for once?" almost wanting the give up, she grabbed the water bottle and took a sip from it. "I know I can do much better than this!"

"Don't be so hard on yourself," the boy shook his head, smiling at how cute his blonde friend was being. "This is, I think, the first time you're playing guitar. Like ever. Come on, you're doing fine, don't be so… insecure."

"I'm not insecure," she defended herself, shaking her head as she took another sip before putting away the water bottle again. "I just know I can do better than this. Is that so weird?"

"Yes, that is weird" he pointed at the guitar, looking at her with his green eyes. "I think your skills are freaking amazing, okay? So, play the song and believe in yourself."

Trying to concentrate again, continued started to play the song and sighed deeply. She knew Joey was right, she had to believe in herself instead of being so hard on herself or else she was never going to play the song correctly. This was her first time playing guitar, so why not just be proud of herself because she learned something new?


	15. Chapter fifteen

Smiling happily, Dylan closed the front door of his apartment and walked straight to the kitchen, because he knew by the sound Nicole was cooking dinner. She was singing a song he didn't recognize and was smiling, while stirring in the pan with food. Her macaroni, which was his favorite. But his most favorite food was the wrap she made once in a while; there was lettuce in it, cheese and chicken. She got it from her mom, who put a different kind of meat in it instead of chicken, but because she knew he loved chicken, she would put chicken in it.

Realizing Dylan had walked into the kitchen, Nicole stopped singing and turned her head to look at him with a small smile on her face, "H-hey, ehm…hi."

Before he could question himself why she seemed so nervous, she told him something that surprised him a little bit. Why would she tell something like that right now, if she could've told him an another time? Maybe she just realized it or maybe she was just afraid of his reaction, but by the way she looked away from him quickly and was blushing, he knew it. Of course she was afraid of his reaction; she was the shiest girl he knew and complimenting a guy wasn't an usual thing for her.

"Hey, ehm… you look good."

Nicole was now looking at the pan with food again, cursing herself why she had to sound so stupid while saying it. 'You look good' wasn't anything special to hear, it wasn't something someone would show them they were interested. She had to say something else.

"Cute, gorgeous, handsome?" she questioned, shrugging her shoulders. "You tell me."

Dylan's smile grew wider, thinking about how he was going to thank her. He wanted to tell how beautiful she was but because she already was feeling uncomfortable, simply thanking her was best right now. Maybe an another time, though. Definitely another time, she deserved to know.

"Thank you," he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand awkwardly. "That's really sweet."

She sighed deeply, a little relieved, lying her hand on her stomach as she smiled. It seemed by the way she nodded as if she was proud of herself. However, hearing her compliment him made him actually feel special. Yeah, it made him feel special. Was that so weird? _Yeah, it probably was. _

"How did everything go with the Holland thing yesterday, by the way?" he asked, trying the break the awkwardness. "What did you tell your parents about her?"

"Oh my god," she shook her head, pulling a worried face as she put some macaroni on the plates. "I didn't tell them anything. I just told them I was going to be late for school if I didn't leave and I tried to avoid them the whole day. I just went to Joey after school and-… I am just scared."

"Why are you scared?"

She set the plates on the table, grabbing forks for them before sitting down on the chair with a dramatic sigh while shaking her head. She obviously didn't want to tell him.

"Come on, tell me" he also sat down, looking at her with his brown eyes. "You know you can tell me everything, right? It's better to tell than keep it to yourself."

She tried to ignore him, looking down as she start to eat her food in silent.

"Is it because you're afraid of what they're going to do if you tell them?"

Shrugging hear shoulders, Nicole put a strand of hair behind her ear but before she knew, Dylan took her hand to make her look at him. And it worked, because she dropped her fork and looked up at him with her light blue eyes.

"Please just tell me why you're scared," he sighed, frowning a little. "Maybe I can help you, make you feel less scared. I don't want you to be scared, that's the last thing I want."

She pulled her hand out of his, beginning to play with her fingers nervously, "my parents know I'm still seeing you and a lot more than usual. Joey and I are seeing each other less and if we do see each other I'm at his house, so my parents only see him at work…" she looked up at him worriedly. "Yeah, so, ehm-… Joey and I broke up a last week and they don't know. They don't know a lot. But what they know is that you're actor and if they know Holland is an actress, they're probably going to think-…"

"that you're sleeping at mine," he finished her sentence, taking a bite of his food. "And then they're going to let you stop seeing me-…"

"No, they won't" she spoke, shaking her head, but it didn't sound so confident at all. "They never made me stop seeing you, so why would they now? I know they want the best for me and I'm still seeing them and thinking about them, school is going great. If everything is doing fine, they're not going to make me stop seeing you." Nicole stopped, sighing deeply. "But I'm just scared of what they're going to think. Maybe they want to meet you and… you know, I'm just scared they're not going to like you. That they're going to be disappointed in me, like… that you're my-…"

"That I'm your Dylan."

"Yeah, and that I know better than that, but… the thing is," she felt tears filling her eyes while she looked up at him again, becoming a little sad. "I don't know better than that. I don't know anyone better than you." A tear rolled over her cheek as she shook her head, "I don't."

Dylan didn't know what to say, he didn't know even know what to feel. He wanted to feel sad for her, he wanted to be angry at her parents, but he also wanted to be happy that she said something like that. That didn't know anyone better than him. It wasn't an usual thing to hear for him, it was the sweetest thing he had ever heard.

So, there he was, sitting up straighter, looking at her in her teary blue eyes that were looking back at him and ran a hand through his brown hair, "sweetheart, don't worry, okay? We'll get through this."

Although she was going to cry anyway, Nicole looked away from him and told herself not to cry. She didn't want to cry in front of him, but also didn't want to walk away. He was being so sweet to her and walking away wasn't the best thing she could do. So, the next tears came rolling from her eyes, rolling over cheeks to wherever they dropped. She sobbed, shaking her head at herself before shrugging her shoulders, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, hey," Dylan stood up from the chair and pulled her from the chair so he could embrace her. She was crying on his shoulders, while again shaking her head again at how stupid she was for crying. Normally she wouldn't cry, but the last few weeks had been really hard for her. Having feelings for her friend and was basically living his apartment, having new friends, the breakup with Joey and keeping it to herself… everything was just so different. But like Dylan once gave her a spoiler from an episode from Teen Wolf: _'if you're going to hell, keep going.' _And she knew she had to keep going because she had to change her life, she wanted to change her life.


	16. Chapter sixteen

Nicole didn't want to wake up the next morning, feeling safe and warm in Dylan's strong arms, who was sleeping peacefully next to her. She knew she had to get ready for school, but just closing her eyes her eyes for a minute wouldn't matter, right?

So, she closed her eyes for what felt for a few minutes until her phone rang, making her open her eyes quickly and grab her phone from the nightstand. She answered the phone, noticing the boy next to her wake up slowly, looking at her with sleepy eyes. "Hello?"

"Good morning!" it was Joey on the other side of the line, sounding happy. "Have you slept well?"

She rubbed her eyes, sitting up and yawned, "I slept great. Thank you for asking. Now, why in the name of God are you calling me at-…" She blinked a few times, before standing up quickly and picking out clothes from her bag. "Wait, what time is it?"

"8 AM," he sniggered, as she looked into the mirror and frowned at how she looked. "But I just wanted to tell you the big news I just got."

Realizing she couldn't do anything to get ready for school, she dropped her clothes on the floor and threw her free hand in the air in frustration, "Oh my-… I'm going to hang up on you, alright? I'm sorry, but I really have to get ready for school. I already overslept, so-…"

"No, it's fine" Joey interrupted her, still sniggering. "I'll call you an another time. Good luck."

She hung up and threw her phone on the bed, before grabbing her clothes from the floor and running into the bathroom to change. She brushed her teeth, did her makeup and hair and then put on jewelry while walking towards the living room.

She almost fell out how quickly she wanted to put on her heels, but Dylan saved her from the fall, holding her by her waist. "I know you overslept, but could at least be careful?"

"If you keep quiet" after was done putting on her heels, she grabbed her bag from the couch and walked into the kitchen where she opened the refrigerator. She took an apple, taking a bite of it and heard him chuckling. "What?"

"You're cute," he shook his head, looking at her with his brown eyes as he leaned against the counter. "You want me to give you a ride?"

"No, I'm fine walking." Before she could walk past him, he grabbed her hand and grinned, _"what about us? What about everything we've been through?_"

Starting to giggle, she shook her head unbelievably at how he was quoting a _'High School Musical'_ song, but played along anyway, _"I gotta leave but I'll miss you."_

"_I'll miss you"_ he sniggered, kissing her forehead softly. "Good luck with school."

"Thank you, Dyl" she pulled her hand out of his grip and walked away as she waved awkwardly at him. He waved back, smiling.

* * *

Although he really liked his job, Dylan was a glad he didn't have to do much at work because they were almost done filming season 2 for the summer and so he could just hang out with his friends at Holland's apartment and be lazy. Now that he had texted Nicole the address, he knew she'd be coming over in a few and as usual he was forward to see her again in some way. If she wasn't crying. He didn't like to see her cry.

"I'm hungry," Tyler played with the strings of his guitar, that had been laying on his lap for a while now, as he looked up at the brunette. "You too, bro?"

"Yeah, bro," he rubbed his stomach, nodding with a smirk on his face. "I'd like to eat ice cream with lots of strawberries and chocolate sauce. Or doughnuts; doughnuts are good."

"Cupcakes are also really good," Holland sighed dreamily, laying her head on Colton's shoulder. "Isn't Nicole into baking or something? She told me she made you cupcakes once."

"Not just once," Dylan shook his head, feeling his stomach rumble. "I've known her for freaking 5 years now. If she likes baking so much, there's no way she could've made me cupcakes just for one time." He shrugged his shoulders, counting the times in his head. "And not just cupcakes. Freaking brownies, chocolate chip cookies-… She made me a pie for my 20th birthday, remember?"

"Perfect girlfriend or what?" Colton sniggered, running a hand through his blonde hair. "Come on, man, get your shit together and ask her out."

"Can we just stop talking about that?" the boy put his hands in his jeans pockets while sighing in irritation. "I can't help that it's not easy to ask her out. I want to ask her out, but-…" He stopped, shaking his head, "You know what? Everything's going perfect between us. She's getting comfortable around me, she told me Joey and her broke up. I'll ask her soon, alright? It's worth the wait."

"You're stupid and a coward," Tyler threw a pillow at his friend, rolling his eyes. "I hate you."

Right at that moment the bell rang, making the three boys look at the only girl sitting in the room with a smirk on their face. "Hey, Holland. Nice to see you here."

Rolling her eyes, she stood up and walked towards the front door to open it, seeing Nicole standing in front of the doorway with a plate of cupcakes in her hand. _Delicious looking cupcakes. _

"Perfect timing!" Holland let her come in, closing the front door behind her and together they walked towards the boys. "Look at what she's got with her!"

"And you're looking gorgeous, as usual," Tyler complimented her, giving her a charming smile and wink. She just smiled, setting the plate on the table before sitting down on the couch, "I'm not even going to say thank you, I know you just want the cupcake."

Dylan grabbed a cupcake from the plate, taking a bite of it and then he realized something. She sat down without kicking off her heels and dropping her bag on the floor. She also was sitting up straighter as usual, hands laying neatly on her lap and her face looked emotionless, although she was smiling. Yup, she was definitely not feeling comfortable at all.

"These cupcakes are freaking delicious!" Holland took a big bite of the cupcake, chewing it slowly with her eyes closed. "I want you as my cook."

"I agree with you, Holly. These cupcakes are amazing" Tyler complimented her, giving her a wink as he took the last bite of his cupcake. "Have you ever thought about becoming a cook or something?"

"No, I didn't," she put a strand of hair behind her ear, feeling her cheeks heat up. "But thank you, though. It's nice to hear you like my cupcakes."

She noticed Dylan grinning widely, running a hand through his hair. Once he saw her looking, he started laughing, making her throw her hands in the air indignantly. "Why are you laughing?"

"Have ever told you that your way of talking is really cute when you are feeling uncomfortable?" he hid face with his hands, laughing with his mouth open while stamping his feet the ground.

"Stop laughing!" she tried to defend herself with a smile on her face, making hand gestures. "It's not funny, okay? I can't help it, it's just what I do!"

He stopped laughing, but still sniggering a little bit as he laid his hand on her knee, "it's fine, sunshine. You're just really cute when you do, alright?"

Sighing deeply, she gave him a look before looking away at Tyler and Holland, who were watching their little moment. "So, what are we going to do?"


	17. Chapter seventeen

They had decided to just order Chinese when they got hungry and now they were just talking to each other about nothingness, with their stomachs full. Excluding Nicole; she trying to stamp the difficult words into her head and she had a hard time doing it. It wasn't just because of the noise around her and the fact that she was really tired, she just didn't want to do it. She had no motivation. No wonder she didn't have any motivation, she was studying for the job she didn't want.

She liked how Joey wanted to teach her how to play guitar, she just had to stop putting pressure on herself or learning wasn't going to be easy at all. The day after tomorrow she planned on visiting him again, excited to learn another song. She expected the song to be also stuck in her head like the song she had learned yesterday; she had been humming it whenever she was bored. Which was probably most of the time at school… or right now, like when she was doing her homework. School was just boring and that wasn't normal for her to think.

Having Dylan's hand burn on her knee, thumb rubbing back and forth, made it even harder for Nicole to concentrate. It made her feel frustrated and he had no idea. She could just entwine her fingers with his, making a second move, but she was afraid. Afraid of his reaction. Maybe he would pull away or maybe he would look at her and notice her blushing bright pink and then he would laugh.

Sighing deeply, she made a hand gesture to calm herself down and nodded before reading the words and meanings behind it over and over, trying to stamp them into her head.

"You want me to help?" Holland interrupted her, making her look up from her book again to shake her head slowly, although she really wanted to just throw the book against the wall and do something else. "No, I'm totally fine doing this on my own. Just studying. It's one of my hobbies."

"Yeah, if you find the subject interesting," Dylan rolled his eyes, taking the book out of her hands to see what she had to study, but she had already pulled it back. "I find this very interesting. I actually learned something like…" she told them sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Do you know what 'cajoled' means? It's another word for to urge, or coax."

"Interesting, jellybean," giving her a weird nickname, Dylan grabbed the book out of her hands again and read the words, raising his eyebrows. "Why do you have to do this?"

"I've got exams next week," she shrugged her shoulders, staring at him with her blue eyes. "I need to study this if I want pass them… eventually. So, yeah. I don't know how, because I also have math and I'm just-… I'm-…" Running a hand through her blonde hair in frustration, shaking her head, "I don't know how I'm going to pass these exams and if I do, I'm not even going to do the job anyway. I've been trying to think of something else to do for a while now, but I don't know what job is… fun."

"Sitting behind a freaking desk all day long, isn't what you call fun exactly," Tyler agreed, looking thoughtfully at his guitar that was lying next to him on the couch. "Wait, can you play any instrument or are you good at singing?"

"If you're saying you think it's a good idea to sing at a café, you're wrong," she said quickly, not wanting to be around drunk people and smoke. "Although I know it's a nice job to get paid well for a while, so maybe I can get a license, my own car and maybe an apartment-…"

"Wait, what?" the brunette was the one to interrupt her quickly, his mouth dropping open while looking at her. "I thought you liked my apartment."

"Dylan, I don't want to bother you-…" and she was interrupted by him again, grabbing her hand as she shook her head. "You're not bothering me. Stop thinking you do."

"But you never really asked me if I wanted move in with you-…" she stopped herself, hiding her face with her hands in embarrassment. "Stop, don't say anything."

"You want move in with me-…?"

"I don't know, you tell me!" she wanted to stand up to look for a place to hide because just hiding her face with her hands wasn't enough for her, but instead of that she stayed. "Why am I so stupid? I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to make you sure you liked me staying at your place, but unfortunately it came out different than it was in my head."

"Aww, you stop it," Dylan grabbed both her hands and removed them from her face, sniggering at how adorable she was acting. "Don't be so cute. You're killing me."

"Stop it," she almost slapped him, pulling her hands out of his and waving with it. "You're not helping me, okay? And it's not cute at all."

"I think it's very cute, okay-…?" he was interrupted by Tyler, who was wiggling his eyebrows and was smirking at them. Holland agreed with it, nodding her head as she laughed.

* * *

Dylan had been muttering to himself the whole ride in the car, while squeezing the steering wheel, eyes on the road and sighing now and then. The silent was the worst, making it easy for her to almost understand what he was muttering. It wasn't positive or anything, but she didn't expect him to because it was pretty awkward back at Holland's. It was all Tyler's fault by telling them to have sex, causing them to leave earlier than planned and not been able to talk to one another for half an hour, because it was just too awkward to handle.

Nicole had tried a few times though, but each time she opened her mouth to say something, she shut it, staying quiet for another few minutes until she thought she enough guts to say something and unfortunately to fail again. It made her sigh in annoyance.

Using a key to open the front door, Dylan let the quiet blonde go in first before closing the front door behind them both and wanting to walk towards the couch to sit down, but then he stopped himself from doing so. He looked around to see Nicole walking towards the bedroom, running a hand through hair and sighing deeply. "Nicole, wait. We've to talk."

Turning around to look at him, she blinked her eyes a few times, uncomfortably, "about what? What's there to talk about? I don't have anything to talk about. Do you have anything to talk about?" She took a pause, playing with her hair. "No? Okay, that's good, because I'm going to take a shower. I'll see you around." And she just walked away, making him walk after him. "Wait!"

Dylan was about to stop her, but before he could she closed the door behind him, locking it. It lasted a few seconds to hear her unlock the door again, just like he expected her to. He knew she couldn't simply walk away from him. Yeah, of course she was a shy person and she often was feeling uncomfortable, but she was very caring and was brave. So, she couldn't just walk away and ignore the whole situation.

"You wanted to talk?" her heart was beating heavily in her chest, and she felt her cheeks heat up in millisecond as she tried to avoid his gaze. "I really need to take a shower. It's 8 o'clock, so-…"

"I'm sorry, alright, for making this more awkward than it could be," he started as he paced through his room, not knowing what to say. "It was just so stupid of him to say something like that. He knows I've been in-… I mean, ehm-…" He ran his hand over his short hair in frustration, cursing himself for almost blurting out the whole 'I've been in love with you since the first day I saw you sitting with a freaking book in your hands at the cafeteria' part. _Great, just freaking great. _

"I just wanted to tell you that, you know-…" he threw his hands in the air, looking at her with his brown eyes before looking away again. "Can't just help me out here? I'm trying to freaking apologize for something he caused and-…" He stopped, raising an eyebrow at himself, "I'm not sure if he's the who caused the awkwardness between us. Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just… weird-…"

"You're not weird, Dylan" she interrupted him, but then looked down at her feet directly out of embarrassment. "He was just joking. And if he wasn't, then it's our own decision whether we have sex with each other or not, right?"

He stopped pacing, staring up at her and nodded in agreement, "Yes. Yes, exactly. You're right. You're so right. It's our own decision. We're not going to have sex."

There was a silent between the two, staring at one another, feeling the awkwardness turn into something else. Dylan recognized what it was immediately, but tried to ignore it, starting to make funny hand gestures, "Leaving. Dylan is leaving. Leaving to the living room. To sit. Sit around." He nodded quickly, turning around and walked away as fast as he could. _What just happened?_


	18. Chapter eighteen

It had been a few days since they had the conversation and they both could still feel the weird tension hanging in the air. Whenever they were looking at one another, Nicole wanted to sit closer and just kiss him, touch his biceps and… God, it was probably the first time she was thinking of something that stupid. But it wasn't only when she was with him; when she was at school, doing her work or whenever she was at home, just reading, she trailed of thinking of Dylan. Kissing him, running her fingers through his short hair, his hands on her underneath her shirt… But how could she think of something like that? It would never happen.

Dylan on the other hand was trying to ignore it, not wanting to do anything she wouldn't like. If there was a way to get rid of the tension, he would, because for the past few days it felt like so hard to talk to her. He would start a conversation about school for example and they would talk for a few minutes but when the subject was done, they didn't know what to say anymore. He wanted to blame Tyler for it, but he couldn't. What there was between them, the 'thing', would've happened eventually anyway. They slept in the same bed, they lived in the same apartment, had dinner together and for the past few weeks they hadn't even called each other a 'friend' for God's sake. It was like they were dating, but they also weren't.

He had to do something about it and he knew, because today he got told they were going to out with cast to a restaurant to celebrate the last day of filming Season 2. He was going to ask her to be his date and… well, he just hoped she was going to say yes. But if she said no, then there was a big chance the weird tension was going to change into awkwardness again, or maybe even worse.

He was too late to ask her though, because when she came walking into his apartment after a long day at school, she kicked off her heels, dropped her bag on the floor, "why aren't you dressed yet? We have to leave in an hour." She was looking at him with a questioned look, raising her eyebrows a little bit. "Or are you wearing that?"

Dylan looked down at the plain white shirt and dark jeans he was wearing, before looking up at her with a crooked smile, "Well, I don't know. I was waiting for you."

"Oh, okay. That's nice of you" sitting down on the same couch, Nicole began to unbraid her hair and gave him small smile. "I'm actually pretty nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" he replied, playing with his phone in his pocket to keep himself busy and smiled back automatically. "There's nothing to be nervous about. The cast is really nice."

"It's just meeting new people, you know," she took off her earrings and necklace, looking away from his beautiful eyes. "And it's at a restaurant. It just all makes me nervous and uncomfortable. What if they don't like me? I don't know why I said yes anyway."

"Said yes on what?" straightening his back, he made a few quick hand gestures in curiosity. He didn't know what to expect, really, because he didn't know any guy from the cast who knew her in person and was single. "Who asked you?"

"Tyler asked me to join," she shrugged her shoulders, giggling confusingly at him. "He wasn't sure if you were going to ask me, so he wanted to make sure I was going to come."

"And you said yes, why?"

Rolling her eyes, she looked at him and sighed dramatically, "I don't know. Because I couldn't say no. He kept telling me it wasn't going be a celebration without me, he was almost begging. I didn't want to put anyone down, you know I don't like that."

"And what if I was going to ask you?"

"Well, then you don't have to ask me anymore, right?" she answered positively, standing up from the couch to walk towards the bedroom. "Now I'm going to be there anyway." Dylan stopped her by jumping up from the couch and throwing his hands in the air, "What if I was going to ask you to be my date?"

"Dylan, you silly," she walked into the bedroom, turning to look at him while shaking her head. "That isn't something to joke about. And if you don't want me to come, you just have to tell me because then I'll just… well, maybe visit Joey or something."

By her mentioning _him _he got annoyed, but instead of rolling his eyes and saying something stupid, the boy gave her a crooked smile and winked, "I'd like you to come with me. I was just curious."

"It's totally fine," she gave him a nod, grabbing the doorknob awkwardly. "I'm just going to get myself ready, just so you know." And she closed the door behind her, leaving him standing there.

* * *

Dylan noticed her feeling uncomfortable by the way she was looking around her while fumbling with her small hands, when they were both following the waitress to the table they had reserved. He put his hand on her lower back, trying to get her attention, "It's going to be fine, alright? I'll order for you, I'll introduce you and if it helps, you can sit next to me. All you have to do is eat and maybe try to make it look like you're enjoying yourself. I think you can handle that for one night."

"One night and never again," she mumbled and turned to look at him, feeling the skin beneath his hand burn on her back. "Do I look good?"

Surprised of her sudden question, his mouth dropped open as he blinked his eyes a few times in a funny way. "Yes, you look gorgeous. As always."

She giggled shyly, looking down at her feet just before Crystal and Holland could stand up excitedly to hug her. "You look so beautiful!" "I love your hair, your dress… oh my god, you look stunning!"

"Aww, stop being so perfect, you both!" she gave back a compliment, noticing Dylan pulling out a chair for her. They all sat down, gladly she was sitting next to Holland and across from Crystal. She was sitting next to Daniel, who had put his arm around her shoulders and was talking to Colton. He was sitting on other side of the strawberry blonde. They were matching clothes, both wearing something fabulous in blue, Nicole's favorite color.

Tyler and Dylan were having a conversation, but she couldn't quite understand what they were talking about. It had be something serious, though, because they were talking so quietly so nobody really could hear what they were saying. She was curious, but didn't want to eavesdrop them and even if she wanted to, there wasn't a chance, Holland started talking happily to her.

"It's so nice to see you again," the girl started, running a hand through her loose hair. "It's been a few days, hasn't it? I want to know how everything is going between you and Dylan. Are you here with him, like as his date?"

Colton joined the conversation, waiting for her to answer while smiling curiously.

"No, I'm not," she shook her head, feeling her cheeks heating up again. "Tyler asked me to make sure I was going to come. He wanted me to be there, I guess."

"Well, he didn't ask you, Dylan would have done it," Colton told her, sending her a friendly wink, before looking at Tyler, who still was talking to Dylan. "But yeah, he's a _freaking asshole-…_"

"Talking about me, bro?" Tyler wanted to give him a wide smirk, but his girlfriend stopped him by punching his arm softly. "I know you just wanted to make sure she came by asking her and that's really nice of you, but next time you should probably keep quiet and let Dylan do it, alright? And stop joking about it."

Finding it pretty funny, Nicole giggled silently, hiding her smile with her hand to make sure nobody saw. But of course Dylan had to hear and look at her, before laughing with her and punching his friend's arm a bit harder. "Yeah, asshole, listen to your girlfriend. She's right and you know it."

Tyler just rolled his eyes, turning to look at his girlfriend for support, but she just shook her head, agreeing with the brunette, "Yes. I'm on his side; I'm right and you know it."


	19. Chapter nineteen

Dylan turned his head to look at the beauty sitting next to him playing with her glass of water, staring dreamily at it. He knew by her body language that she wasn't feeling uncomfortable, so there had to be lot of things going to her head, causing her to keep quiet for the last 30 minutes. He wondered what she was thinking about and he wanted to ask her, but why would he interrupt her thoughts if it seemed like she was doing perfectly fine. And he never really got the chance to see her so calm, so he admired her for a few seconds.

That was until she looked at him, giggling at what she wanted to ask and blushing shyly, "ehm, would it look weird if I'd go to the bathroom… like, right now?"

"No, of course not," the boy shook his head, answering her question while smiling at her. He wanted to ask her why it would be, but because he probably already knew, he just let it be. "I'll make sure you don't miss the cake."

"I love cake" she gave him a thankful smile, biting her lip in doubt, if it really was alright to go, before standing up from her chair, to walk away. But when she was about to look for a sign, she bumped into someone, wetting her dress by a glass of coke. The glass fell to the ground, shattering into pieces, making the girl to jump in shock. "I'm so sorry-…"

"It's fine," the man interrupted her, shaking his head while bending to collect the pieces on the ground. "It was my fault. I should've watched where I was going, really."

"No," wanting to help him to pick up the pieces, she bent down but the boy stopped her by gently shooing her away. "Why can't I help? It was also my fault."

He shook his head, laughing as he stood up straight just like her, "the customer is always right and I just started working here, therefore it's my fault. I had to look out, you were just walking there-…" The boy looked at her dress, cursing quietly to himself, "And there is a stain on your dress. I'm so sorry."

Nicole sighed in pity, shaking her head at how nervous he was acting, "It's totally fine-…"

"I'm going to get fired," he almost started to panic, looking around to see if anyone had seen what happened. But nobody was looking, so he sighed and nodded his head at me, "do I have to help you to clean your dress?"

"No, it's totally fine," she blushed shyly, only now noticing how handsome he was. "I'll just do it myself. Thank you, anyway." Then she gave him a smile, turning around and walking towards the bathroom. There she grabbed a few paper towels and wetted it to try to clean her dress, ignoring her need to go to the toilet. She couldn't just go back with a big stain on her dress, making them look at her weirdly, wondering what had happened to her beautiful purple dress.

Looking into the mirror at herself, she sighed insecurely while shaking her head. There was no way she was ever going to have the dress entirely clean again with only paper towels and a bit of water. She wanted it to be though, because she didn't want to embarrass herself more than she already did between all those people she didn't know. But there was a good side, this wasn't a four star restaurant and she wasn't with her family who would make the manager to fire the boy who ruined her dress and go straight home. He was very handsome, probably around her age but there was no way he could compete to Dylan. Nobody could really compete to him, that was impossible.

The door got opened by Seana, Tyler's girlfriend, making her turn around in shock, laying her hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat heavily. "Oh, I'm sorry I scared you. I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Well, Dylan wanted me to ask you if you were alright."

"I bumped into a handsome waiter, ruining my dress by a class of coke and now I'm trying to clean the stain, which doesn't really help," Nicole told the girl truthfully, hoping there was a way she could help. "I'm too scared to go back. I'm already feeling so uncomfortable around people I don't know."

"I haven't really noticed," she grabbed another paper towel, wetting it a little and smiled. "Do you mind if I try to clean it? Maybe it helps."

"It's worth a try," shrugging her shoulders, she let Seana try to clean the stain. "So, how long have you and Tyler been together?"

"9, maybe already 10 years," the girl giggled happily. "I've known him since middle school and fell in love with him fast enough. He's a really sweet guy, I couldn't imagine dating somebody else."

"10 years is really long, that's so beautiful!" she commented, laughing. "You two should marry."

Seana didn't know how to reply, but smiled anyway, "thank you, I guess." She stopped cleaning, looking at the stain that had gotten a little less visible. "So, for how long have you known Dylan?"

"Since I was 15, he was 16," pulling a thoughtful face, she looked into the mirror to see her dress, nodding approvingly. "I think I've known for 5 years now. I'm not good at numbers, really."

"Neither am I," she laughed, leaning into the counter. "That's why I'm a hair stylist now. I don't have to do anything with numbers, and if I do then I'll just grab a calculator or something."

"I'm in college now, exams are next week by the way," she played with her hair, smiling a little. "My parents and my grandfather all work at a bank and they basically would like me to work there. I'm trying to look for something else though, but I don't know what I like. Well, I know I like-…"

"What's it what you like?"

"I like to make people happy," she answered, looking at her painted nails thoughtfully. "That's what I want to do, but I don't know how. And it's just… so hard, you know, finding the perfect job."

"Why don't you just ask Dylan if you could be his personal stylist?" the brunette shrugged her shoulders while smiling brightly. "I do Tyler's hair backstage a lot. He has to do interviews, award shows and whatnot. You could ask him-…"

"But I never learned any professional stylist stuff or whatever it's called," she sighed deeply, playing with her fingers. "I can't do the things you can do."

"Aww, come on," she gave her a playful punch, smiling brightly. "You're a girl, you can do a lot with makeup and hair." Then she put a strand of hair behind her ear, "You know what, we should hang out sometime, maybe I can help you find you the perfect job. What do you say?"

"I'm okay with that, I think," she giggled awkwardly and nodded. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

Seana grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the bathroom, "come on, let's go back!"


	20. Chapter twenty

Nicole could still feel the tight grip from Dylan around her when they got home after the encounter with the paparazzi. They were standing outside the restaurant, waiting for them to come back so they could take pictures of them and it was actually the first time for her to happen. She didn't know what to think, but she knew it was pretty shocking. Strange men asking them questions if they had a relationship and what her name was, some shouting to look in the direction of a camera and telling them how beautiful they looked.

Although it was really stressful and uncomfortable, Dylan had kept her safe with his arm around her waist and pushing her through the paparazzi to the car, opening the door for her. Usually he was pretty nice to them, but now that it was getting pretty personal, he just wanted to get away, getting _her _away as fast as possible.

"You feeling alright, sunshine?" Dylan sat down on the bed, trying to pull of his shoes while watching her look into the mirror, taking off her jewelry. It was almost time for them to go to bed, especially for her since she was tired the most, yawning every now and then and struggling to keep her eyes open.

"Yeah, I think so," she undid her hair, letting it fall loosely down her shoulders and sighed. "It was a kind of odd, though. I never realized how famous you actually are; I always saw you as, you know, just Dylan, the guy I met 5 years ago. It's weird, huh, how fast time flies by?"

He nodded silently, standing up from the bed to walk to the bathroom to change himself into a sweatpants and shirt. He brushed his teeth as she walked in to remove her makeup, which he had never seen her do. Not that was anything special; all she wore was mascara, eye pencil and sometimes eye shadow and whenever she could, she wasn't wearing any. Therefore there wasn't much to remove every night.

Dylan walked out after she was done brushing her teeth with him watching her and making her laugh by poking her in her side a few times. He lied down in bed, underneath the soft sheets and sighed, thinking about what had happened at the restaurant.

She had taken his hand when somebody asked her a question, causing half of the cast to look at her with curious eyes which made her feel stressed, not knowing what to say. But when he squeezed her hand, letting her know that he was sitting next to her and nothing was going to go wrong, she answered the question with a proud smile on her face. He was amazed by her, listening to her talk while looking at her with his brown eyes, just like the others did.

Nicole was wearing a sleep shirt when she walked out of the bathroom and lied down on the bed next to him, making him smile brightly as he pulled the sheets to her shoulders.

"What are the plans tomorrow?" the blonde sighed, feeling him snuggling up to her, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "I think we have to go grocery shopping…"

"We'll go grocery shopping," he kissed her cheek gently, also closing his eyes, yawning. "What do we have to get?"

"Oreos…" she wanted to think of what else they had to get, but she was too tired so she rolled over to her back, giggling. "I was thinking about it today, but now I'm just too tired to remember. I just know I'm craving Oreos when I'm on my period."

"When are you on your period"? he felt her fingers caress his cheek, causing her to smile and open his eyes to look at her. "I'm so glad you're not cranky when you are."

"Well, I think Tuesday or Wednesday," she shrugged her shoulders, nodding slowly and pouting. "I don't want to. My back always hurts so much, it's almost hard to get through the day without lots of… I don't know, painkillers." She groaned in annoyance, already thinking about it, rolling over to her other side to lay her forehead against Dylan's chest, "Exams are next week. I'm so not prepared."

"You're a smart girl," he combed his fingers through her blonde hair, kissing it softly. "You'll pass if you don't stress. Just try to concentrate and do it."

"You've seen how difficult the things are that I have to learn," she lifted up her head, staring at him with a hopeless smile on her face. "I don't know how I'm going to just concentrate and do it, if I'm on my period and-…"

He kissed her forehead, interrupting her with a snigger, "how many times do I have to say that you'll be fine? I want you to believe in yourself, stay calm and just do what you have to do. If you pass, you done with school and then just do your thing. For example, we could go… ehm-…"

"To the beach," she smiled dreamily, nodding her head in approval. "I really want to go to the beach, swimming in the cold water, sunbathing and… I also want to build a sandcastle, you know. A really big sandcastle-…" She sat up, poking Dylan a few times with a big smile on her face, "you want to know what I also really, like really, really want?"

The boy shook his head, watching her lay down again, beginning to stare at the ceiling, a sigh leaving her mouth. "I really want a cat. A kitten. A sweet, little one, who I can cuddle with-…" She giggled happily, "I really like to cuddle. Especially when I'm really tired-… No, wait, I always like to cuddle, only when I'm not mad, I think. But I'm actually never really mad or anything. It's weird-…"

"Nicole?"

"Yeah?" she looked at him, noticing his sleepy eyes, making her giggle, "Oh, I'm sorry. I just like to talk sometimes. You should probably forget what I said, besides the cat thing, I still want a cat. But you know, you should just go to sleep, you look really tired."

He gave her a small smirk, feeling his eyes falling shut slowly and sighed, "you should dream about me getting you a cat for Christmas, since you don't like birthdays."

"I seriously dislike birthdays, they're so annoying," she mumbled, rolling over to her side, pulling Dylan's arm around her waist. "But I'll make a cake, though. You deserve a cake. Like every day."

"Why is that?" he kissed her cheeks, getting comfortable underneath the sheets and before he could actually hear her answer, he fell asleep, dreaming of happy things.


End file.
